How can I deal with being pressured by my department to pass students who failed?

Your department defers to you as the final authority on the student’s grade, and for a good reason: because you are the only person who sees the full picture of the student’s performance and the context in which it was assessed.

The department can give you high-level guidance and advice, but that is never a substitute for an instructor’s reasoned judgment taking into account the details of the situation.

The student, like all students everywhere, wants to pass, and like many (but not all) students will offer any excuse they can think of, no matter how feeble, for why they deserve lenient treatment. If the excuse rings hollow, ignore it.

Whatever your conscience dictates doing is the best course of action here. Making that final call is precisely what the department pays you to do and expects of you.

Have you considered offering an Incomplete instead of immediately offering a pass or fail grade? This might be a compromise you could suggest which wouldn't automatically pass the student without the work being completed, while still allowing them the opportunity to complete that work and pass the class. Having been in a similar teaching situation this spring an Incomplete was a way to say, "Right now you have not remotely fulfilled the requirements to pass the class. However pre-covid shutdown you had been doing well enough (both grades and participation) that we expected you to pass the class, and as such are willing to give you more time to complete the requirements."

For a number of students in this situation we found that it was only partly about technical issues, and often there were other life circumstances compounding any technical issues. For example, chaotic living situation that was not conducive to focusing on schoolwork, struggling to keep track of all the asynchronous assignments without the structure of a class schedule, and/or extra stress about health of themselves and loved ones in the face of Covid.

The students haven't demonstrated that your course material or teaching methods are problematic. They also didn't bother making use of the material provided to help them succeed.

From your side, you resolved the technical issue timeously, and went above and beyond to both waive late penalties and chase up the student(s) when they still did not submit homework.

For me it's a clear-cut case: these students failed because they didn't put in the effort, and now that reality has sunk in, they're now trying to blame the technical issue - and implicitly you - for their failure. That's flat out dishonesty, and it's unacceptable, regardless of COVID or not.

They failed of their own accord - fail them. If they really believe they have a case, they are welcome to appeal to your department listing exculpatory reasons why they should be passed. But I suspect they won't.

Please always remember - you are part of the machine for enforcing academic honesty and integrity. Passing failed students who are also dishonest, is failing in your duty to uphold these ideals. Yes, the world needs graduates - but it needs truthful ones, not politicians.

Finally, unless your department has produced an official policy document that requires you to pass those who have supposedly failed due to COVID, pass/fail remains entirely your discretion. I suspect your department wants to have it both ways - passing more students while not appearing to relax standards - and that's also dishonest. Until or unless they're willing to formally change their policy, you have the final say, and their pressure means nothing.