The Social Development Commission is making plans to pay former employees who have been owed paychecks for months, SDC attorney William Sulton said this week.
“There’s no question that it has been frustrating for former employees to not have been paid, but we actually have a solve for that,” Sulton said Thursday.
Sulton said he plans to mail checks for all former employees owed money for the April 15 payroll by Saturday to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, which he expects will then mail them to employees next week.
Being unable to make payroll was a primary reason why the agency suspended operations and laid off its employees in late April, Sulton said.
In the three months since then, the SDC Board of Commissioners has pursued different avenues to generate money to pay what it owes while laid-off employees waited for answers and some filed wage claims.
Sulton said the SDC “had some money come in” that it is using to pay some former employees. He said he expects to have more information next week on paying former employees for other missed payrolls.
The SDC board is still working on plans to pay contractors and vendors who are owed money, Sulton said.
Anyone who has questions on the status of their paycheck can contact the state Department of Workforce Development.
SDC board continues to shrink
The SDC Board of Commissioners met Thursday night at a Milwaukee County office building at 10320 Watertown Plank Road, Wauwatosa.
The board is down to 10 members, according to Sulton, who said on Thursday that commissioners Deadra Purifoy and John Jacobs resigned in June. At full capacity, the board has had18 commissioners.
Purifoy was elected to represent SDC’s District 1. Jacobs represented the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.
Seven commissioners have departed from the board since SDC paused, including former board chair Elmer Moore Jr. The only vacant board seat that has seen a recent reappointment is filled by Jackie Q. Carter, who was appointed by Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
Two weeks ago, board secretary Serina Chavez resigned.
Here’s more on the SDC
Three months since closing, SDC still owes money
Tax appointments for former SDC clients will close at IRS office on July 24
SDC’s inconsistent meeting notices raise transparency concerns. Here’s what you need to know.
What you need to know about the SDC’s closing
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
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