EVANS, Ga (WJBF)- A chain of daycare facilities in the CSRA is in hot water with employees and parents.
Some former employees of “Kids and Company” daycare and upset parents reached out to us by email and phone to complain about building conditions and how workers are being treated.
“I have a family. Like I have two kids, a husband. I’ve got bills. Not knowing when I’m going to get paid, if I’m going to get paid,” said Jordin Pittard, a former employee.
Pittard said she was an employee at “Kids and Company” daycare for a year. During that time she claimed there were a lot of issues including low staffing and illegal child to staff ratios. She added that she reported mold at the South Augusta location.
“They got a dehumidifier. It helped, but nobody ever came in and took care of the mold. They had one person come in and take a look at it. They said they had two more people come in to do estimates. We never saw anybody and nobody ever told us anything.”
Perhaps the most common and concerning claims are that employees are not being paid for their work. According to Pittard and several other employees on social media, the whole staff of the South Augusta location walked out last week after they didn’t get paid.
She told NewsChannel 6 that over the year she worked for “Kids and Company,” five of her paychecks bounced.
“I went to the check — the bank that she uses and they could not cash it. And I could tell by the look on her face, I was like, ‘Let me guess, you’re not able to cash this check?'” explained Pittard. “She said, ‘That’s correct.’ And I said, ‘Can you give me any information on why you cannot cash it?’ And she said that she couldn’t disclose it.”
There is at least one lawsuit against the owners filed by a church they leased space from for the day care. And another could be on the way.
Nick Carnes, the pastor at Hope Church Augusta, told NewsChannel 6 that they are owed around $200,000 for a broken lease, back rent and damage repairs, among other things.
“There were, I think there was like a total of three non sufficient funds. There was a promise to repay debt that was not fulfilled. We went all the way until about February and could not get in contact with the owner,” Carnes explained.
NewsChannel 6 reached out to “Kids and Company” to get their side of the story. Calls haven’t been returned at this time. We also went to the Evans location where they refused to speak with us.
