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Preventing $200,000 payroll mistakes at Seasons Living
The customer business
Seasons Living is an Oregon-based organization with facilities throughout the West Coast. With 600+ employees, it offers exceptional Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Short-Term Care services, focusing on holistic well-being and personalized care.
The customer problem
Seasons Living, a senior housing operator, learned the hard way how costly a single payroll error can be.
During a routine cycle, someone accidentally entered a pay rate of $2,000 per hour instead of $20. The mistake slipped through unnoticed and resulted in a $200,000 overpayment.
At the time, payroll was managed through manual checks and complex Excel spreadsheets. Each cycle required hours of exporting and analyzing data, often falling directly on the COO’s shoulders.
On top of that, California’s strict labor laws and the threat of PAGA lawsuits meant every mistake carried serious compliance risks.
There was no safety net in place to catch these kinds of issues early. After the $200,000 incident, it was clear that something had to change.
The solution
Celery was introduced to Seasons Living through a trusted connection at a time when fast, reliable help was urgently needed. A short demo was all it took to see the potential. The team was surprised by the simplicity and power of the platform.
“Celery gave us all the data, plus data I didn’t even know I needed. It was simple, clean, and almost invisible in how little effort it took.”
What immediately stood out was the ease of access to real-time data. Celery automated labor audits, ensured wage compliance, and tracked breaks without any manual input. Dashboards presented insights clearly, with no extra work required. Even the pricing came as a surprise, offering far more value than expected.
I would’ve paid triple... and still not questioned the value,”
What used to take me over an hour now takes five minutes
- Lance Leland, COO, Seasons Living
Since implementing Celery, Seasons Living has dramatically reduced the risk of payroll errors. The time spent reviewing labor data has also dropped.
The results
91%
Reduction in manual workload
5X
Faster payroll data analysis
50%
PAGA claims reduction
“I’m confident that if I brought a new issue to Celery, you’d either already support it or find a way to make it happen fast.”
With Celery in place, Seasons Living now audits payroll and compliance automatically for 600+ employees. Time spent on labor analysis has dropped by over 90 percent, and real-time visibility into overtime, shift coverage, and departmental labor costs has become the new standard.
The team operates with greater confidence in PAGA compliance and labor law audits, knowing issues are flagged before they become risks.
The ROI has been immediate. According to Lance, the value delivered far outweighs the cost.
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