diff --git a/ondeck/src/lib/sync/sync-engine.ts b/ondeck/src/lib/sync/sync-engine.ts
index c5f41f6..bfbb859 100644
--- a/ondeck/src/lib/sync/sync-engine.ts
+++ b/ondeck/src/lib/sync/sync-engine.ts
@@ -195,10 +195,11 @@ async function syncEmployees(
         const userData = mapAfwEmployeeToUser(afwEmployee)
 
         if (existingUser) {
-          // Update existing user
+          // Update existing user — exclude department to preserve manually-set values
+          const { department: _dept, ...updateData } = userData
           await prisma.user.update({
             where: { id: existingUser.id },
-            data: userData,
+            data: updateData,
           })
           updated++
         } else {