The City Hasn’t Paid 150 Brooklyn Daycare Workers In Over A Month
Daycare works in Brownsville and East New York haven’t been paid by the city since July 19 due to a paperwork mistake the city has acknowledged but not yet rectified, the Daily News reports.
“People don’t have money to feed their families,” said Gregory Martin, Executive Director of the Faith, Hope and Charity Day Care Centers, which look after 500 low-income kids. “They’re very angry… They all live paycheck to paycheck.”
Reportedly, the Administration for Children’s Service’s cut off funding, incorrectly thinking the center owed the city money. Officials have acknowledge the mistake but have yet to release the $616,630 the Center is owed in wages for its staff, who are miraculously still showing up to work with the kids every day.
“Every day we’re being told, ‘In a few days, in a few day,'” said Martin.
“The Administration for Children’s Services is working with Faith, Hope and Charity to explore the options available to address this situation,” was all an ACS spokesperson would say.
Unsurprisingly, workers are being pushed to the brink. “My rent hasn’t been paid, my car note is due, car insurance is due, everything,” she one worker whose husband is also employed (and therefore not being paid) by the center. “We (are) still coming to work because we still have a job to do.”
Uh, we hope this gets sorted out immediately. While it’s very trendy and “new economy” to expect people to happily work for free in one of the most expensive cities in the world (just ask a media company!), it’s also horrible, shitty and totally unsustainable.
Especially if the “paperwork problem” is entirely your fault.
