Reuters Journalists' Angry Letter About Pay Problems

Angry Reuters journalists recently complained about the company's payroll problems in a letter to CEO James Smith.

The impetus for the letter, employees said, was a "technical issue" with the payroll system, which they were told will delay their overtime pay until the next pay period.

"Lately, however, when it comes to processing our paychecks, Hewitt appears to fall into the payroll equivalent of a polar vortex," the Newspaper Guild wrote, speaking on journalists' behalf. "The system freezes, you can’t get a straight answer from the first-name-only person who answers the helpline, and complaint emails generate a swirl of ticket numbers that refer employees to other ticket numbers that refer back to the original ticket numbers."

The latest delay, which employees said follows similar errors in past years, comes at a time when staffers have had to work more overtime in order to make up for recent cuts and departures, according to the letter. Thirty employees took voluntary buyouts and 15 others left the company, the Newspaper Guild said in December.

Click over to Talking Biz News for the full text of the letter from the Newspaper Guild.

(h/t Politico)