Friday, July 5 was supposed to be payday for New Orleans city employees. However, Big Easy Magazine has received word that many of those employees, including those at the New Orleans Department of Transportation and the New Orleans Public Library, did not receive their paychecks this morning.

According to an email sent out Friday morning by Kiana Lunkins, a Human Resources Office Support Specialist for the New Orleans Public Library, the City’s payroll processor, ADP claims that Library staff was paid accurately.

However, a separate email sent out by another staffer claims that this was not the case – and that the city failed to make its payroll deposits on schedule.

“My immediate HR department submitted their ADP info early to the City as holiday procedure dictates,” said one City agency employee, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We have no idea what the City then did… if they turned it in late or what.”

Further complicating matters is that City Hall is closed today, and City Hall employees have been given the day off, in spite of it being a required work day for other nonessential city agencies.

“We really don’t make very much money, especially to live in this city,” the employee said. “I know Cantrell loves Essence, but not including agencies in this sneak City holiday almost feels insulting.”

Adding insult to injury is the fact that Governor John Bel Edwards made today a holiday for state agencies, which opens the door for Parish and City officials to do the same. Jefferson Parish government also gave its employees the day off.

The City of New Orleans, Bureau of Finance, has issued the following statement:

“This morning, we received numerous calls of employees not receiving their direct deposit paycheck. Upon further investigation, we were informed from our payroll vendor, ADP, that approximately 1,400 out of 2,950 Administration/Weekly Employees did not receive their direct deposits today. The Accounting Bureau, Payroll Division had a conference call with ADP, where they informed us of this sporadic issue of City of New Orleans employees not being paid today. At this time, 3 p.m., Friday, July 5, 2019, the City of New Orleans Accounting Bureau, Payroll Division, is still awaiting ADP to rectify this situation. In the meantime, we have received assurances from ADP that they will reimburse any overdraft fees incurred by employees due to this error. We understand the severe financial burden this has placed on our employees; please know that we are working with our vendor to swiftly rectify this situation. We will update our employees as soon as possible.”

ADP has now issued the following statement:

“ADP can confirm there was a technical issue with processing direct deposit payments for some employees of The City of New Orleans. However, all funds were released for payment this evening and they will post to the employees’ accounts based on individual banks’ posting schedules. We would expect most will see the funds in their accounts no later than Monday, July 8. We are working closely with our client to determine the cause of this issue. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.