NEON employees: Checks are worthless – there’s no money

(Updated 4 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, complete story)

NORWALK, Conn. — More than a dozen Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now (NEON) employees congregated at the 98 S. Main St. headquarters Tuesday afternoon, looking to talk to their embattled CEO because paychecks that had been issued Monday night were labeled as “fraudulent,” they said.

According to employees — most of whom would not give their names for fear of losing their jobs — the checks are drawn on Citibank, but Citibank employees refused to cash them Tuesday morning. One employee said she was told there were insufficient funds; another said a bank employee said the check was not valid but they could not say why because the person trying to cash the check was not the owner of the account. Shortly before 4 p.m., employees who had gone inside to meet with NEON’s interim President and CEO Chiquita Stephenson emerged in tears, saying they were told there was no money available and no estimated date they would be paid. The employees, who called the situation “bull—” and “crazy,” were heading to a meeting at Norwalk Inn with Community Development Institute (CDI), the company the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has brought in to take over the Head Start program on a temporary basis. That takeover has met with resistance from NEON and has not taken effect.

Stephenson refused to speak with NancyOnNorwalk.

The employees went to NEON just before noon Tuesday looking to talk to Stephenson. They had been led to believe Stephenson would be there, but she wasn’t.

A member of the group, who said she is a union shop steward, called Norwalk Police. “I had to make sure no one was going to be in trouble for cashing a check,” she said.

The employees said they have a co-worker who is on vacation, who had gotten her paycheck at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and then headed to California.

“Right now, she was stuck in Ohio with no money because when she deposited the check and she tried to use the ATM, there’s no money in there,” said Audelina Moya of Bridgeport, a kitchen manager for NEON. “It’s bounced. She is stuck in Ohio with no money. It’s not fair.”

The shop steward said a NEON employee, child in tow, tried to cash her paycheck at a check-cashing business in Waterbury. The clerk called police and told them the check was fraudulent. Police said they would have arrested the NEON employee but did not because she had a child with her, the employees said.

“I have someone stuck in Ohio now, stuck, trying to get to California and she is stuck because she can’t take the second flight out,” the shop steward said. “I have a mother and a child stuck in Waterbury because they could not cash their check and we are supposed to be OK with this?”

Police came out of NEON a short while later to inform her of what they had learned by talking to NEON management.

“From what they said they’re trying to take care of it,” he said. “They’ve been trying since early this morning. Give them the time that they need. They’re dealing with it. … They say they’re having an issue with the bank. It’s not fraudulent.”

Only about 70 to 75 paychecks were issued by NEON, said the shop steward, who did not have her own useless piece of paper yet. Most of the employees had been there Monday night, looking to get paid. Checks were not released to them until 12:40 a.m. Tuesday, they said. NEON stopped printing checks at about 9:30 a.m. after reports came back that they were not being honored., employees said.

The officers said that they were told a “glitch” had caused the problem.

“That’s what it is? The glitch again?” one employee said.

This is the third time in a row that NEON has had problems with its payroll. The agency is under siege from federal regulators and grant-makers over its management and financial practices. NEON’s Head Start contract has been suspended, Department of Corrections halfway house contracts have been canceled and the agency has been labeled an “agency at risk,” when the Department of Social Services begins steps to move NEON’s other programs to more stable agencies.

Employees said after meeting with Stephenson that union dues had been deducted from their paychecks but that the union had not gotten the money for two months. They said their health insurance premiums had been deducted from their paychecks, but they had no health insurance.

They said they had been told they would be fired for speaking to the press. Stephenson was grandstanding, one employee said. Employees were told that if they opened a Citibank account they would be able to cash their checks within three or four days, one said.

One employee produced her paycheck to show that it had no pay stub with it. There was no accounting of the hours worked or any deductions. It was just a check, which she said was worthless.

One tearful employee said her phone might get shut off again. Others said people did not have food to feed their children.

The shop steward said she is trying to help her co-workers.

“I am reaching out to anyone that can help and assist families to be fed,” she said. “I myself, thanks to my mom, I am able to stand my ground but others don’t have that support.”

She said she doesn’t believe the story about the glitch.

What is the problem?

“Stolen funds, I can’t sugar coat it,” she said. “You can’t say misappropriated because when we speak to the funding source the funding sources say money has been given. So if money has been given and it’s not been put into our property what do you call it but stealing?”

Moya, the kitchen manager, said she is owed 190 hours of vacation time.

“Every time NEON have a problem or we have to cover something, I have to stop my vacation, I can’t take it because we have a problem in the school and now I don’t have my paycheck,” she said. “I don’t have no vacation, I don’t know where I’m going to be. And I have family. I have a house to pay, I have bills. It’s ridiculous. I never be absent at my job, I always come to work every day. I’m here every day to work for 14 years.”

(Original story)

NORWALK, Conn. — More than a dozen Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now (NEON) employees congregated at the 98 S. Main St. headquarters this afternoon after trying to cash their paychecks and having the bank refuse them.

According to employees — none of who would give their names for fear of losing their jobs — the checks are drawn on Citibank, but Citibank employees refused to cash them Tuesday morning. One employee said she was told there were insufficient funds; another said a bank employee said the check was not valid but they could not say why because the person trying to cash the check was not the owner of the account.

Shortly before 4 p.m., employees who had gone inside to meet with NEON’s interim President and CEO Chiquita Stephenson emerged in tears, saying they were told there was no money available and no estimated date they would be paid. The employees, who called the situation “bull—” and “crazy,” were heading to a meeting at Norwalk Inn with Community Development Institute (CDI), the company the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has brought in to take over the Head Start program on a temporary basis. That takeover has met with resistance from NEON and has not taken effect.

Stephenson refused to speak with NancyOnNorwalk.

About 15 employees, who were expecting to be paid Monday, had been at NEON at about 2:30 p.m. Some said checks were not released to them until 12:40 a.m. Tuesday, when 70 to 75 checks were distributed. Several employees were at the NEON office to pick up their checks at that time. Then, when they tried to cash them, they could not. NEON stopped passing out checks at about 9:30 a.m. after reports came back that they were not being honored.

Employees called police to the NEON office to complain of fraud. Officers went inside, an employee said, and came out and told them that they were told a “glitch” had caused the problem.

The complaint stemmed from an incident earlier Tuesday when a NEON employee, child in tow, tried to cash her paycheck at a check-cashing business in Waterbury, one employee told NancyOnNorwalk. The clerk called police and told them the check was fraudulent. Police said they would have arrested the NEON employee but did not because she had a child with her, the employees said.

This is the third time in a row that NEON has had problems with its payroll. The agency is under siege from federal regulators and grant-makers over its management and financial practices. NEON’s Head Start contract has been suspended, Department of Corrections halfway house contracts have been cancelled and the agency has been labeled an “agency at risk,” when the Department of Social Services begins steps to move NEON’s other programs to more stable agencies.

Employees said after meeting with Stephenson that union dues had been deducted from their paychecks but that the union had not gotten the money for two months. They said their health insurance premiums had been deducted from their paychecks, but they had no health insurance.

They said they had been told they would be fired for speaking to the press. Stephenson was grandstanding, one employee said. Employees were told that if they opened a Citibank account they would be able to cash their checks within three or four days, one said.

One employee produced her paycheck to show that it had no paystub with it. There was no accounting of the hours worked or any deductions. It was just a check, which she said was worthless.

One tearful employee said her phone might get shut off again. Others said people did not have food to feed their children.