AUGUSTA (WGME) — Home health care workers in Augusta say they were told their business was shutting down effective immediately after weeks of not being paid, leaving some of their elderly clients without care.
Employees at Caire Home Healthcare say they received a message Friday saying the company was closing, with no further information.
“I get a message that just says the company’s closing down, no explanation. no questions answered for clients or myself,” Nicole Breedlove, one of seven employees at the agency, said.
Breedlove says she plans to keep caring for her client despite not being paid.
“I have an 86-year-old client. You know she can’t be without care. I’ve been providing care and not getting paid, and I’m going to continue to do so,” Breedlove said.
Workers say some employees have gone as long as three weeks without pay.
“Right now, we all have a check that we cannot get cashed because it’s no good. We were due another paycheck today, which we’re not getting paid for,” personal support specialist Carla Thornton said.
“It’s not right to anybody. If you’re gonna get paid at the end of the week, we should be paid, too, because we did the work,” personal support specialist Laurie Gaynor said.
Gaynor calls it “theft of services.”
“How can you not pay dedicated workers, you know, they go in and they put their heart and soul into something, and you sit there and you blow them off like we’re garbage,” Gaynor said. “You know, these people deserve answers. Everybody deserves an answer.”
Employees say Caire Home HealthCare is a MaineCare provider and that the closure leaves 17 clients without care.
“It’s not even about our pay. It’s about the clients. They’re left with nothing and now no staff, I mean they’re elderly, most of them are elderly and depend on us,” personal support specialist Joanne Leach said.
Leach says she has stopped taking shifts because of the lack of pay.
“I rejected all shifts this week, because it’s a third week with no pay,” Leach said.
She also questions what happened to company funds.
“Where’s the money gone? Where is all the money gone that this company has received for payment. They say now that the company has a levy put on through the IRS, but if you’re paying your bills, you wouldn’t have a levy,” Leach said.
“We want to know where the money is where the money went, we deserve answers,” Thornton said. “We’ve been dedicated workers from the get-go. We have stuck by this company, and this is how we get treated.”
Former administrator Jessica Taylor says tax-related issues forced the company to close.
“Due to IRS levies and the IRS revenue officer wanting to shut the business down,” Taylor said.
Taylor says employees and clients were offered help finding alternate options and confirmed the company is closed for good, while also saying employees will all be paid.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services was contacted for answers, but we have not yet heard back.