MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A home care agency’s local franchise closed down last week, and several employees were still waiting for their paychecks Tuesday.
“Where do you go from there? What do you do?” employee Eva Cotton said.
She said she has worked for BrightStar Care of Memphis for years. She cares for patients at home and in other facilities.
However, on Tuesday, the door was locked and phone calls went unanswered. Cotton said employees like herself never got paid last week.
“These young ladies, you know, some of them was paying an extension on their light bill just to pay their light bills,” Cotton said.
The office is located in an office building in the 6200 block of Poplar Avenue.
Cotton said somebody with the company called her Wednesday to let her know the company was closing and her last day would be Friday.
Cotton said the agency told her that her check would be ready Friday. Then, she said the business told her she would get her check Monday.
“I said, ‘You’re telling me we’re not going to get a paycheck?’ And she said, ‘Well, right now, we haven’t heard anything,” Cotton recalled.
She said her family feels the strain of a late paycheck. Her husband recently had a kidney transplant, and costs are adding up.
WREG called the office and those reportedly in charge of the Memphis location. No one picked up or called us back.
A spokesperson for BrightStar Group Holdings Inc. returned WREG’s request for comment late Tuesday afternoon, saying RMCM Healthcare LLC independently owned the Memphis location.
He said all of the office’s clients were transitioned to other care providers, and all employees received calls Tuesday that they would get their paychecks this week. He said less than 20 employees have yet to be paid.
The agency has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
Cotton said she plans to continue working in patient care.
First, she said she wants the money she has already earned.
“This is wrong, and it’s not right,” Cotton said.
