Current and former workers of NEON filed wage theft claims in Cleveland Municipal Court Thursday in an effort to recover back pay they say the health care nonprofit has owed them since December.
The workers said they were left with no other option than to sue to recover their back wages. Ever since the organization failed to pay them for two weeks of work in December, employees have asked CEO Willie Austin for their back wages. NEON has not delivered.
“As an employee, my family, my children, have been greatly affected by the missing pay,” P. Cohen, who recently resigned, said. “I have not been able to pay bills on time, and it really puts me into a bad position. There is stress mentally, but I still showed up [and did my job.]”
I’m not here to bash the company. The company has done great work in our community – even for me – as a recipient of the care that they give.”
P. Cohen, a former NEON employee, emphasizing that filing a wage theft claim was only about back pay
Cohen was among nine former and current workers to file small claims cases Thursday. At least 20 current and former employees said they intend to file such claims, said Grace Heffernan, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Worker Center, which helped them navigate the process.
In addition to the unpaid December wages, NEON has bounced the subsequent paychecks of several employees before eventually making good on them, Heffernan said. Signal Cleveland contacted Austin, the CEO, about the wage theft filings. We will update the article when he responds.
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Keep readingNEON is in dire financial straits, including All Pro Capital Funding saying that it will foreclose on NEON properties for defaulting on an $11 million loan. NEON operates seven health centers, primarily in East Side Cleveland neighborhoods, and two mobile units. Another clinic in Hough has been closed since a 2021 fire. In addition to missing wages, the company hasn’t paid employees’ health insurance premiums since late last year.
The workers’ plight first became public in a January Signal Cleveland article. Reading that workers hadn’t been paid, Cleveland’s Fair Wage Employment Board decided to get involved. The board, the worker center and other community-focused groups paid Austin a surprise visit in February to find out when NEON expected to pay the back wages. Members of the wage board, the worker center and other organizations were in front of the court Thursday before workers filed their claims.
Austin told wage board Vice Chair Bishop Eugene Ward Jr. that the workers had received their back pay. Austin also agreed to meet with the entire board at a date to be determined.
Board members later confirmed that Austin had not told the truth about paying the workers what they were owed, Ward said. He said he attempted to contact Austin several times to set up an appointment, but the CEO never responded
The board doesn’t have direct authority to order NEON to give workers their back pay. Its purview over wage theft is limited to employers with city contracts of at least $75,000.
“I met with him in good faith,” Ward said. “He let me in in good faith, but bottom line: He lied to me.”
Cleveland Wage Board tells NEON workers that the city is ‘standing in solidarity’ with them
The worker center held a news conference about the wage theft claims before the workers filed. The event was supposed to focus on workers’ stories about why they decided to file.
“Many of them are afraid retribution will be taken because of what they are doing, Ward said. “But they have to do something because nothing is being done.”
The workers, all with medical masks covering their faces, ended up staying in the background as members of the wage board and the worker center spoke. Cohen was the only one to step forward to address the media, but she was worried about being the only worker identified speaking at the news conference.
“I’m not here to bash the company,” Cohen said before she filed. “The company has done great work in our community – even for me – as a recipient of the care that they give.”
Two other wage board members spoke at the news conference. They were Camilo Villa, Northern Ohio coordinator for SEIU Local 1, and Cleveland City Council Member Tanmay Shah.
“The City of Cleveland is standing in solidarity behind the workers of our city, and we want to make sure that things like this do not happen,” Shah said. “The board is going to ensure that, in the future, we will hold bosses accountable.”
After the news conference, the worker center and other community organizations emailed a letter to NEON’s Payne Avenue headquarters. It states that the organizations stand in solidarity with more than 50 workers who have made demands that include that Austin and the NEON board be replaced.
“Mr. Austin and the Board of NEON have shown malice and a purposeful dereliction of duty to honor the basic rights of their workers,” the letter stated. “As a result, we believe that these demands should be honored immediately.
“Additionally, we support the workers right to strike, picket, walkout, and withhold labor if these demands are not honored,” it states. “NEON must respect the right of their workers to engage in collective action.”
