HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — A group of employees say they still haven’t been paid for hours worked over the summer.
The employees worked as pool staff on Joint Base Langley–Eustis.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because this is the same workplace where a group of lifeguards weren’t paid in summer 2018.
For the second year in a row, employees for Life Aquatic H2O reached out to 10 On Your Side for help getting paid.
This new group of employees first contacted 10 On Your Side at the end of summer after weeks went by without a paycheck.
“There was always some excuse or issue,” said Jacob Weigel, a former employee. “Even when I had heard that this had happened last year, I thought that maybe the military base would’ve done something to correct this from happening again.”
Back in September, WAVY.com contacted Christina Donnelly, the aquatic center’s CEO. At that time, she confirmed the payroll problems, but she said she was in the process of paying employees. Workers confirmed they did receive some money soon after WAVY spoke with Donnelly.
“I got $400, which was a portion of the money,” said Weigel.
However, two months later, Weigel said Donnelly still owes him more than $600.
Other employees, like Jacob Norman, are still waiting to get the rest of their checks too.
“Right now, I know that I’m owed a thousand dollars,” Norman said. “I was having trouble paying for books which eventually put me behind on a few classes and I’ve been playing a catch-up game ever since.”
We got in touch with Donnelly again who said in a statement “there were several extenuating circumstances which led to the payment delay.”
She said money collected for entrance and membership fees to the aquatic center — which are processed through credit card payments — is what funded employee paychecks.
However, due to personnel turnover, Donnelly said employees failed to process these transactions as instructed. She also says there were inconsistencies on employee timecards.
On Tuesday, Donnelly claimed to have processed a payment to the employees, however those 10 On Your Side spoke with said they’re not holding their breath.
“We’re still pushing and we’re going to keep contacting her until we can figure out a way to get the rest of our payments,” Norman said.
Donnelly told 10 On Your Side over the phone she may have to file for bankruptcy, but she’s trying to avoid that so the employees can get paid.
A base spokesperson told 10 On Your Side “the terms of the contract with Donnelly expired” on Sept. 21 and she’s “no longer affiliated with the Base.”
