Who Puts These People In Charge of Money?

I got paid today. I'm not complaining about getting paid, let me make that clear. But it is rather odd.

The schedule of payment for salaried employees (like teachers) is that we get paid on the last weekday of each month. Since I have 12-month deferred payment (as opposed to only getting paid Sept-June, they divide my yearly salary into 12 months), I will be getting paid on Tuesday, July 31. That's very straightforward.

The mid-month payments are a little more complicated. If we work extra hours (extra recognized hours that is - we all work extra hours), for example, in an after-school program, or an extra mandatory meeting or an extra training day, we get paid some mysterious hourly rate, turn in extra time sheets, and get paid on the 15th of the month.

So, why did I get a payment today, July 10?

Luckily, each pay stub comes with codes. They used to print the codes' meanings but have stopped that for some time now, so they must be self-evident. (Or so one would think if the meanings are no longer given).

The total is $1,080.55. Which is quite a lot for an unexpected paycheck. The before-taxes total is $1,212.10. The codes.... here they are.

6/30 OSTP 2.00 Rate: 600.00 Earnings: 1,200.00
4/26 SBCV 1.00 Rate: 12.10 Earnings 12.10

Obviously!

Wait a minute...

OK, 4/26, SBCV might mean sub coverage. I have no idea if I covered for someone on April 26, but chances are good. However, usually sub coverage is paid per child - you get $5 or $6 per child for the day (not worth it). So an amount like $30 would make sense. A unit of 1.00 and a rate of $12.10 makes no sense at all. It's not hourly. It's not per child. And for all I know, SBCV means Super Big Cotton Vests. Also, why am I being paid on July 10 for something that happened on April 26?

OK, let's move on. OSTP. I don't even have a good guess for that one. Osteopath? Osteoporosis? Organic Sirloin T-Bone Purchase? Omnipresent Suffering, Torture, and Pain? Two of them happened - whether that means two hours, or two days is anyone's guess. Come to think of it, if it's $600 per unit, it can't be hours or days. But that's all anything is measured by for time sheets. It's not two weeks, that would show up as 10 days. What could they possibly be paying me $600 per something for?

So, you see that I am confused. And that I don't trust payroll as far as I can throw them. Remember, our district was approximately $80 million in the hole a few years back. And that was because they couldn't find the money. They switched financial software and "lost" $80 million.

You might ask why I'm so confused? Why don't I just take the money and run? This is the thing with my district. I could totally see them taking this money back at some point. Or not paying me my regular salary this month or next (the last two months I get a salary) because they said I already got it - because somehow SBCV OSTP means "regular monthly salary."

There is, in fact, something that I'm supposed to get extra money for, which will be my next post, but it's supposed to come as $400 on July 15 and $600 on July 31. This crazy acronym paycheck just makes me nervous.