Heroic Payroll Fails - # 5 - Payroll Riots

"If there are payroll errors, employees will riot." Which payroll professional has not heard this sentence from a panicked stakeholder before?

While this emotion is understandable, one might want to think twice before using this sentence again in a figurative way. It is hard to believe, but a few months ago, payroll errors actually cost over a dozen human lives.

Last January, in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea's capital, a peaceful protest over a payroll "glitch" turned violent, resulting in at least 16 deaths. Public servants, including police officers, were protesting due to missing pay, with some salaries short by up to 50%. Tensions escalated, and supermarkets were looted.

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