Multnomah County Pays Out Nearly $2 Million Settlement to Stiffed Employees

A $4.2 million update to the county’s payroll software had a few glitches.

Multnomah County River Patrol looks for mariners in trouble—and bobbing corpses—from a 31-foot Sheriff’s Office boat. (Daniel Stindt)
By Lucas Manfield

Last month, a judge approved a nearly $2 million payout by Multnomah County to settle a 2019 wage lawsuit originally brought by five corrections deputies.

Now, checks have gone out to thousands of current and former county employees affected by faulty math and unauthorized deductions from their paychecks.

As WW reported three years ago, the lawsuit stemmed from the botched rollout of the county’s new payroll system, Workday, which had stiffed some county employees hundreds of dollars.

“We’ve discovered, absolutely, there are some glitches. When you’re turning a ship the size of Multnomah County into the 21st century, I think you can expect [that],” a county spokesperson told WW at the time.

Now, the county is paying out nearly $2 million—and waiving any further efforts to claw back outstanding overpayments—to resolve the resulting class action lawsuit.

The fund was divided among 7,500 workers employed by the county since 2019. The last checks went out the day before Thanksgiving.

County officials did not respond to inquiries from WW.

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