CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Auditor J.B. McCuskey says state government will once again have to manually input information for more than 37,000 state employees before they get their first paychecks in 2022.
Kronos, the private company the state is contracted with to administer the state’s time and leave system, still hasn’t corrected what was impacted by a recent ransomware attack.
“We’re going to be doing this again next payroll,” McCuskey said during a Friday appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.” “We feel like we are fully capable of doing it again. It’s going to be a real pain in the rear end but we’re going to hold Kronos accountable for what they’ve done.”
The ransomware attack on Kronos, now known as UKG, has impacted 140 state agencies. Some state workers got paper checks on Friday.
.@mccuskeyforwv provides an update on the state payroll situation. He gives the latest to @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/PmpijxjckS
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) December 31, 2021
McCuskey said the state has already put UKG on notice that it plans to sue unless the company reimburses the state for damages including the hundreds and hundreds of total hours state personnel of spent on manually entering payroll information.
“We’re going to sue them unless they provide us with the damages we specifically request,” McCuskey said. “We’ve already noticed them on our intent to sue and the causes of action and the likely damages so they know where we are.”
McCuskey said he remains thankful for work done in the past two weeks when many state workers were on holiday break.
“They stepped up to the plate and made sure that everyone was taken care of on their last payroll of the year.”