July 02, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
The School District of Philadelphia may have violated labor agreements in its failure to process termination payments to 729 former employees, an audit by City Controller Christy Brady concludes.
The School District of Philadelphia owes 729 former employees a combined $2.8 million in unused paid time off, a new audit released Thursday by City Controller Christy Brady shows.
The audit found the School District of Philadelphia had not paid leftover PTO to the workers, who are entitled to this compensation within 30-75 days of their departure. In some cases, employees who left the school district over five years ago had not received payment.
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"Every employee deserves to be paid accurately and on time for the work they performed," Brady said in a statement. "When former employees are still waiting years after leaving the school district to receive compensation they earned, it raises concerns about accountability and compliance."
The controller's office had discovered a similar discrepancy in last year's audit, when the school district owed $2.2 million to over 400 former workers. Though the school district resolved 272 of these cases from 2023 and earlier, it accrued another 938 from the fiscal year 2024. As the latest report notes, the school district "appears to be in violations of applicable labor agreements" with relevant unions.
Per the audit, the school district also may be in violation of Pennsylvania law. The Disposition of Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Act stipulates that wages and other compensation for personal services that remain unclaimed more than two years after they are distributed belong to the state. The school district owes roughly $320,600 to Pennsylvania under this law, the report concluded.
School district officials said Thursday that they had agreed with all of the audit's recommendations and "already developed corrective action plans" to address them.
"To strengthen record keeping and inventory management, the District has implemented centralized oversight, inventory audits, staff training, enhanced accountability measures and improved asset-tracking procedures," the statement read. "We will continue working to improve our processes, strengthen accountability and make sure public dollars are managed wisely and responsibly."
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union, which represents custodians and bus drivers, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This story has been updated with comments from the school district.
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