"Only a Fraction of What I Was Supposed to be Paid"

Testimony Before a D.C. Council Committee on the 2008 Summer Youth Jobs Program

Margaret

Good afternoon.  My name is Margaret Parker and for the past summer I was employed by the Summer Youth Employment program.

 Testimony before the D.C. Council Committee on the management of the DOES: 2008 Summer Youth Employment Program.

For more information go (and the Washington Post articles with Margaret's quotes), go here and here.

 

Good afternoon.  My name is Margaret Parker and for the past summer I was employed by the Summer Youth Employment program. During this time I was assigned to The Youth Education Alliance though I requested to work with children.

 

After my first visit to 625 H Street, to turn in my registration form, there was no sign of progress for me as far as obtaining my work site or debit card. Previously I was employed by the Youth Education Alliance, in the fall, doing youth advocacy, and my supervisor told me that we were going to become a summer site and that he would request me. Though this was to occur, when I went back to H Street they still gave me another site until my supervisor went down there himself and repeated the necessary procedures to request me.

 

Even then after a long unnecessary wait I still had not obtained my debit card to get paid. I couldn’t get any answers from the visibly angry and overwhelmed staff. 

 

So eventually, after two and a half weeks, me and some of my summer youth coworkers had to take a day off of work to go down to H street to get the debit card, and even still a couple of my coworkers still didn’t get their cards that day and had to wait for a longer period of time. In addition to that on the third pay[day], I only received a fraction of what I was supposed to be paid and had to wait three days after the scheduled pay day to receive the correct amount that I was to be paid.

 

Through out the summer I saw these episodes happen to many of my friends and coworkers. Only because one of my coworkers had a family member working on the inside and because my supervisor was consistently calling and visiting H Street were we able to accomplish the things that we needed.

 

 Though I gathered a lot of information and had a lot of fun at my worksite, the whole process was frustrating for the youth and the providers.

 

My suggestions, which are being strongly advised, are that there should be more staff workers at the orientation sites and have more SYEP (summer youth employment) centers across the city with workers that are able to effectively advise callers and walk-ins with questions, as well as staff trained to deal with large groups of people for long periods of time, and more organization within the payroll area.

                                                                                                                                         Thank You.