VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Firefighters in Virginia Beach are upset about a problem that's affecting how much money they're bringing home.
They say the city's new payroll system is causing them to lose out on wages that they've earned.
The city told 13News Now last week they were working on the issue -- but, that there's no way of knowing when it will be fixed.
“It’s just a really bad, awful situation to tell people around the time of the holidays, 'Hey your checks are going to be variable. You're not going to know really you're getting paid,'" said Virginia Beach Professional Firefighters President Max Gonano.
One week after 13News Now first spoke with Gonano, he said not a lot has changed.
Gonano explained there still are big issues with the city's new payroll system called VBTime. The main issues mean firefighters are missing hours of pay in their checks.
City leaders told Gonano they're working with the vendor to take care of the problem. But, he's not feeling too confident.
“And we may have a fix for the next payday to avoid the variable paychecks. However, all the information I received yesterday and last night... there is no fix anywhere in sight. This is going to impact at least the next check, and probably many more after that," he said.
City leaders sent a statement that explained how firefighters are being paid right now.
“For example, instead of consistent pay amounts for every paycheck, the first paycheck might be higher than the second. But in total, the employee is receiving the same amount monthly and is being paid for all hours work," said Tiffany Russell, the City of Virginia Beach's interim director of communications.
Gonano said firefighters usually don't get paid by the hour. Instead, they normally receive the same disbursement each pay period.
“Because with the city we are considered salary employees. It says so on our paychecks. So they are paying us like we're hourly employees which is not correct," said Gonano.
For now, Gonano is telling firefighters to prepare themselves to approach their finances in a different way.
“Because it’s not going to be fixed," Gonano said, "There is no solution we have been told that will work at this time."
City of Virginia Beach officials said they are waiting on their payroll vendor for a timeline of when a solution will be in place.
Gonano said in all, about 400 firefighters will see changes in their checks.