Some instructors who teach noncredit courses at Kapiolani Community College say they have not been paid in several months and are owed as much as $4,000 each, but have hesitated to speak out because as "casual hires" they have no job security.

KCC’s Continuing Education program hires instructors on individual contracts to offer noncredit courses at night and on weekends at the Diamond Head campus. Subjects range from elder care to medical coding, cooking to calligraphy.

The Star-Advertiser learned of the pay problem earlier this month when an instructor posted on his Facebook page, "My colleagues and I have not been paid in four months."

Of 12 Continuing Education instructors contacted by the newspaper, none were new hires, and just one said he had been paid consistently on time. The others said they had waited up to five months for paychecks, with overdue amounts ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.

Most declined to be quoted, saying they feared they would be blacklisted from teaching. But some agreed to speak, concluding the situation is out of hand and deserves public scrutiny.

Teddy Harrison, a registered nurse for 42 years, teaches courses on home care for seniors and Alz­hei­mer’s patients.

"We teach people how to take care of their loved ones who are old, frail and have dementia," she said Friday. "I adore this job. That class that I teach I see as a gift to the community. The administration doesn’t see it that way. They cavalierly don’t pay us.

"I believe they owe me $3,800 and haven’t paid me since the pay period that ended Feb. 15, and I don’t know why," Harrison said. "You wonder where the money is going. I don’t understand it."

Carol Hoshiko, dean of community relations and continuing education at KCC, said the administration began looking into the pay question after a couple of cases "bubbled up" at her office. She could not say how many people are missing paychecks.

"We’re doing a fact-finding right now to determine what’s going on," Hoshiko said. "We want to see if the process can be streamlined to make the payments come out faster. We don’t want to have people out there not getting paid."

She added, "We’re also going to be implementing an electronic process to resolve some of the delays that might occur in processing paperwork."

The noncredit program is handled separately from compensation for regular faculty.

"Continuing Education runs more like a business, where revenue coming in for classes that are offered helps cover the expenses of the instructors," Hoshiko said.

Willow Chang has taught dance for 12 years in KCC’s continuing education program, and said she is owed close to $4,000. She said she has not received paychecks for the October-to-December session or for a daily class in January, although she was paid for her February class.

"KCC has amazing instructors well known for their skills and talents. It is unfortunate that they can’t get around to paying their employees," she said.

"It makes me sad because I genuinely believe in what this program has to offer," added Chang, a University of Hawaii alumna.

Hoshiko said the school is working to comply with a new federal requirement that positions be posted online for at least three days before hiring to ensure that veterans and the disabled have a chance to apply for even short-term jobs. Continuing Education classes vary in length from days to months, with classes starting and stopping throughout the semester, and applicants now must reapply each time, she said.

"We are transitioning to a new process," she said. "We are impacted by trying to implement that."

Despite their frustration, instructors praised the coordinators of their programs and said the problem appeared centered in the human resources office at the college, where papers go missing.

Mary Osorio said her latest teaching session ended in February and she’s still waiting for her paycheck, with no explanation for the delay.

"I called to find out why, and they said it’s stuck in HR. This is a problem specific to KCC. I don’t feel like I’ve been given a straight answer. I don’t think it’s right to hire people and not pay them," Osorio said Thursday.

"I’ve taught the class five times in three years. I’d like to teach again, but not necessarily as a volunteer."

Eileen Torigoe, who heads the Human Resources office, declined to comment, saying she was told to refer inquires to the chancellor’s office. KCC Chancellor Leon Richards was away from the office, and the call was forwarded to Hoshiko.

Barbara Cook, a gerontologist who taught classes geared toward baby boomers handling their parents’ affairs and making career transitions, said the pay problem may have worsened recently but is not a new one. She recalled that more than a year ago she didn’t get paid for a fall session until the day before her spring class began, and that was only after she threatened not to teach the new class.

"There is something drastically wrong up there," said Cook.

The summer session is getting off to a slow start, with just a few health science classes listed as of Thursday morning. More courses were added by Friday afternoon, after the Star-Advertiser inquired about the matter, but many categories were still blank. In contrast, Windward Community College had a full complement of Continuing Education classes listed on its website for this month and on through the summer.

Stuart Robson, who has taught tai chi at Kapiolani Community College for 15 years, said he had no complaints about getting paid on time, but he moved to a different venue after he heard no noncredit classes were being held this summer.

"I have students that have been coming to me for 15 years every Saturday," Robson said. "May 5 was my last day at KCC, and I started up at the new site on May 12."

Hoshiko said she expected more courses to be posted soon and the summer session to run as usual. She added that she is also following up with the marketing committee.

"We need to make things available for the community," she said.

Instructors expressed concern about declining enrollment and little publicity, online or elsewhere after the school stopped mailing out a printed catalog for its noncredit courses.

"You have to be a detective to find my class," Robson said. "I used to get new students all the time. For the last few years, no new students."

Robson and Chang said the college needs to try new ways to get the word out.

"I’ve suggested that KCC have a Facebook page for the Outreach College, with videos, bios of the instructors," Chang said. "I’ve offered to put together showcases of the instructors, an open house with short sessions, cooking, student recitals. I have said we should sign people up at the (weekly) farmers market."

"They won’t even allow me to put fliers on the board, even though I’m staff at the Outreach College," she said. "They always say, ‘We don’t have the budget for this and don’t have the budget for that.’ I’m at my wits’ end."