West ISD Employment

People who worked in nonprofessional positions at West ISD, and were denied Social Security coverage prior to 2006 (i.e., no FICA was withheld from their paychecks), may have been improperly denied Social Security coverage.  As a result, their Social Security benefits, upon retirement, may be reduced or even eliminated.*

Prior to 2006, West ISD routinely denied Social Security coverage to nonprofessional employees working 30 hours or less per week.  However, in 2003 and 2004, West made a huge exception for about 1800 retiring teachers, each of whom served or posed as a "custodian" for a mere 6 or 7 hours.  These one-day-only janitors were all given Social Security coverage.

When confronted by the glaring double standard, West's Business Manager, Peggy Kissinger said, in a sworn affidavit, that there had been, for a long time, an "unwritten" optional standard, wherein a worker could get coverage after working just 6 hours - in total. However, it is not clear that West informed its workers of the special "unwritten" standard - if it actually existed.

 

In 2004, PPTO Director Joe Fried contacted West ISD, using a pseudonym, and was told by Kissinger that Social Security coverage would not be given unless an employee worked OVER 30 hours per week.  (See Kissinger's email response, below.) There was no mention of a 6 hour option.  In early 2005, the Public Program Testing Organization tested some of West's payroll records and found that individuals working up to 8 hours in a day were denied Social Security coverage.  And, in early 2006, the Social Security Office of Inspector General audited West ISD.  We can deduce that Ms. Kissinger did not inform OIG of the unwritten 6 hour option because the OIG said, on page 6 of its Audit Report: "part-time positions (defined as 30 hours per week or less) are excluded from Social Security coverage [at West ISD]."

For these reasons, it appears that West ISD was inconsistent or even dishonest in informing employees about these important benefits to which they were entitled. 

 

More information about this matter can be obtained by contacting: 

Joe Fried, Director
Public Program Testing Organization
(a 501c3 nonprofit organization)
216 524 2143

*Note:  The FICA tax rate is 12.4%, half of which is owed by the employer. 

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Link to Kissinger email

Public Program Testing Organization

©2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 
Date last modified January 6, 2009