WINCHESTER, Ky. (LEX 18) — Monica Lara is an employee at Pearl Interactive Network in Winchester. She shared part of an email that her employee sent out on Thursday. She reads, "It says, 'due to a hurdle in payroll processing payroll will be submitted tomorrow, Friday morning. As such we know that there will be a delay in receiving your pay'."
The notification tells employees that their paychecks could be delayed.
Lara says, "I've seen multiple people in HR all day today."
She says she's worked at the company since August as an hourly employee and has seen a pattern of the company not paying its employees timely. It's affecting her family.
"I've been having to rob Pete to pay Paul so I can get food in their mouths at least and for my bills to be paid. It's absolutely not okay,” says Lara.
Lara says she hasn't gotten a paycheck from her employer since the beginning of November, and she has two small kids to feed and make sure they have a roof over their heads.
The holidays are just around the corner, and Lara and her family have been given around two weeks to leave their home after getting an eviction.
She shares, "Just my kids like where they're gonna be at for Christmas, and what like I’m gonna be able to get them and like I don't know where we're gonna be at Christmas. And that's the part that kills me the most because it's the children, my children are the ones that are suffering, not me. You know I can go without, but the children can't."
Several other employees at the company spoke with LEX 18 saying that they also haven't been able to pay bills. LEX 18 reached out to Pearl's CEO, Mario Antwine. Pearl leadership sent back a statement saying:
Pearl acknowledges that payroll for the current pay period has been delayed due to an unforeseen accounting issue when we migrated to a new payroll system. We take this matter very seriously and have immediately addressed the problem. We are in close communication with our employees to ensure transparency and support during this time.
We are committed to making this right and to ensure all employees are fully compensated as soon as possible and no later than Monday, December 9th.
With over 20 years in business and a proud 12-year footprint in Central Kentucky, we have always strived to be the business of choice in our community. Our dedication to serving our employees in Clark County and beyond remains unwavering, and we deeply value their hard work and commitment.For any further inquiries, please contact Leadership@pinsourcing.com.Sincerely,Pearl Leadership
Lara says, "They're not going through it. The fact that it's not their paycheck, it's their employees’ paychecks and you know that doesn't seem to be affecting them at all.”
LEX 18 also reached out to the Education and Labor Cabinet. They got back to us saying:
KRS 337.020 requires that all employees be paid at least semimonthly and no later than 18 days after the employer defined workweek. Employees who believe their employer is in violation of this statute have the right to file a complaint against their employer for the full amount of wages due on each regular pay day. A wages and hours investigation may be opened into a potential employer violation of this right with one valid employee complaint, which may be filed online at https://apps.labor.ky.gov/onlinecomplaint/ [apps.labor.ky.gov].
