Work, but no paycheck

Jennifer Simonson, Star Tribune

Science teacher Art Bogdanove, left, and maintenance worker Jeff Hempel have been unable to collect wages from their employer, Ambassador Preparatory, a private boarding school in St. Paul. Staff members have had little luck collecting thousands of dollars due them after the school encountered financial troubles and closed.

If employees aren't paid, they can ask a state agency for help -- but that may not do them much good.

Star Tribune

Last update: July 13, 2009 - 10:53 AM

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Even though they hadn't been paid in months, the staff members at a small boarding school in St. Paul still showed up for work to ensure that students could attend classes and get a hot meal.

Mounting debts at Ambassador Preparatory forced the school's director and owner, Erica Roy-Nyline, to shut it down last winter. At least 10 former staffers -- teachers, cooks, a maintenance worker -- have been trying to recoup thousands of dollars in unpaid wages ever since.

Several staff members filed complaints with the state Department of Labor and Industry, hoping the agency could force Roy-Nyline to pay up. They told Whistleblower that they were stunned by the department's response: Go to conciliation court.

"It's just amazing how you can break the law and nothing can be done to you," said former maintenance worker Jeff Hempel. "Here you have a government entity, and they can't even do anything about forcing an employer to pay wages."

Roslyn Wade, who heads the state's labor standards unit, said employees are often referred to court because her agency doesn't have the resources to force an employer to pay wages. Four investigators respond to 20,000 to 25,000 unpaid wage claims every year.

"We can issue an order, but that order does not carry the weight that the general public presumes it does," Wade said.

Ambassador Preparatory operated out of two old mansions in St. Paul's Cathedral Hill neighborhood and served about two dozen international students. The staff members who started at the school last fall didn't know that Roy-Nyline was behind on the mortgage and food bills. She would tell them that enrollment was down or that she was waiting for payments from South Korean parents.

Former teacher Arthur Bogdanove said a labor investigator e-mailed him in December a state statute that said, "If wages earned are not paid, the commissioner of labor and industry or the commissioner's representative may demand payment on behalf of the employee. If payment is not made within ten days of demand, the commissioner may charge and collect the wages earned and a penalty...."

Bogdanove said he thought that meant the state could step in, but the investigator instead suggested he sue Roy-Nyline.

"They have the authority and power," Bogdanove said. "They are the ones that should at least make the effort to collect."

Wade said her staff made contact with Roy-Nyline, but she eventually quit responding. The agency learned that Roy-Nyline simply did not have enough cash to pay her bills.

Some staff members from earlier school years have won judgments in court against Roy-Nyline, but said they don't expect to get any money.

Whistleblower couldn't reach Roy-Nyline. The two old school buildings on Dayton Avenue, now foreclosed, are vacant.

Options for recovering back wages

• The non-profit organization Workers Interfaith Network (www.workersinterfaith.org or 612-332-0663) helps employees deal with unpaid wages.

• If a payroll check bounces, employees can file complaints with the Financial Crimes Services check diversion program (www.financial crimes.net), which contracts with law enforcement agencies to pursue criminal charges against bad check writers.

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