Nearly eight months after Officer Tuan Le was fatally shot in the line of duty, the Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) called the city out for reportedly asking his widow to pay them back for overpayment before he was killed.
"I was angry, upset because it's very inhumane on the way they did it and disrespectful, especially for a police officer that gave his life serving this community," OPOA President Huy Nguyen said.
An invoice provided by OPOA dated May 30 and addressed to Le’s widow requests $461 for an overpayment during a recent ransomware attack. Nguyen claims when OPOA first brought the issue to the city attorney’s attention, they continued to ask for payment. In a scathing letter to the city, the police union called the actions heartless.
"How devastating it is for her to go through the experience that she is going through and now to get this letter demanding a small lump sum of $461 and the city attorney’s office reaching out to our executive director asking about insurance polices and other benefits to pay $461," Nguyen said.
The city claims the invoice was a misunderstanding. It explained the issue stems from the February 2023 ransomware attack in which payroll systems were down and more than 120 employees were overpaid.
A city spokesperson claimed staff have been using a standardized process to recoup overpayments.
The city administrator’s office issued the following statement: "In February 2023, one effect of the ransomware attack on the City of Oakland was that the City issued payroll to all of its approximately 5,000 employees without the usual payroll system available to keep those payments accurate. In more than 120 cases where individual employees were overpaid, City staff have been following a standardized process to recoup those overpayments.
Officer Le was among those employees. The authority to waive the City’s process and waive an overpayment of this nature rests with the City Administrator. Now that this matter has been brought to his attention, City Administrator Johnson has directed staff to waive this debt. There is no need for further action by Officer Le’s family, and we consider the matter closed. The City Administrator’s Office will continue to work with OPOA leadership and all of our labor partners to address issues regardless of how material.
The City stands with Officer Le’s family and apologizes for any distress or inconvenience this issue has caused for them, and we will continue our unwavering support."
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OPOA, which already wrote a check to the city this week to cover the cost, said it’s too little, too late. They believe it never should have happened.
"I want to make sure that stuff like this doesn’t repeat itself," Nguyen said. "There's got to be some common sense."
