CakePHP Sort order not affecting all records - mysql

Question

In my CakePHP 2.7.7 app, I have an issue where using PaginatorComponent isn't properly sorting my results. See this link for an image:
Sample Data
The data should be sorted by descending last name, but you can see there are a couple users who are seemingly exempt from this data. Doesn't matter what order I do it in, ascending or descending, these few records don't get sorted. For reference:
index() in UsersController:
public function index() {
$this->User->contain('Status');
$this->paginate = array(
'limit' => 15,
'order' => array('User.last_name' => 'DESC'),
'conditions' => array('User.department_id =' => $this->Session->read('Auth.User.department_id')),
'contain' => 'Status'
);
$this->set('users', $this->Paginator->paginate());
}
Any ideas what could have caused this? I'm at a loss here. Thanks in advance!
SELECT `User`.`id`, `User`.`first_name`, `User`.`last_name`, `User`.`middle`, `User`.`address`, `User`.`address_2`, `User`.`city`, `User`.`state_id`, `User`.`zip`, `User`.`home`, `User`.`cell`, `User`.`work`, `User`.`email`, `User`.`status_id`, `User`.`status_reason`, `User`.`rank`, `User`.`birthday`, `User`.`gender`, `User`.`school`, `User`.`employer`, `User`.`position`, `User`.`created`, `User`.`modified`, `User`.`updated_by`, `User`.`radio`, `User`.`ident`, `User`.`parent_name`, `User`.`parent_number`, `User`.`parent_email`, `User`.`squad`, `User`.`squad_leader`, `User`.`ride_along`, `User`.`drivers_license`, `User`.`username`, `User`.`password`, `User`.`department_id`, `User`.`join_date`, `User`.`group_id`, `User`.`test`, (CONCAT(`User`.`first_name`, " ", `User`.`last_name`)) AS `User__name`, `Status`.`id`, `Status`.`status` FROM `admin_cake`.`users` AS `User` LEFT JOIN `admin_cake`.`statuses` AS `Status` ON (`User`.`status_id` = `Status`.`id`) WHERE `User`.`department_id` = 1 ORDER BY `User`.`last_name` ASC LIMIT 15

Answer 1

When you use $this->paginate to set conditions, limit...you need to use function $this->pagination().
$this->pagination and $this->Paginator->pagination() can not be combined.
1)
public function index() {
$this->User->contain('Status');
$this->paginate = array(
'limit' => 15,
'order' => array('User.last_name' => 'DESC'),
'conditions' => array('User.department_id =' => $this->Session->read('Auth.User.department_id')),
'contain' => 'Status'
);
// Assign settings
$this->Paginator->settings = $this->paginate;
$this->set('users', $this->Paginator->paginate());
}
2)
public function index() {
$this->User->contain('Status');
$this->paginate = array(
'limit' => 15,
'order' => array('User.last_name' => 'DESC'),
'conditions' => array('User.department_id =' => $this->Session->read('Auth.User.department_id')),
'contain' => 'Status'
);
//Don't use $this->Paginator->paginate()
$this->set('users', $this->paginate());
}