FORT MYERS, Fla., -- Sovereign Health, a rehab center, has not paid their employees for nearly a month. One employee tells Fox 4, the lack of income has nearly made him homeless.
"I don’t want to sue Sovereign, I don’t want nothing — I just want my pay," said Eugene, a driver for Sovereign Health.
Eugene says he's repeatedly asked supervisors why he hasn't been paid. Fox 4 reached out to Sovereign Heath to find out why. A spokesperson says the center is behind two pay cycles. He explained it was due to a "change in vendor."
Eugene isn't the only employee that says he's fed up with not being paid. Earl Givens, a nurse for the center, says he's quitting.
"The pay period was April 20th, however we didn't receive it for about two weeks, and we have not received one since," explained Givens. "We've had several late pay days since the first year."
Sovereign Heath says while this has happened in the last four weeks, it did not happen prior to that.
For employees like Eugene, he says he became an Uber driver to try to earn extra income. He showed Fox 4 his time stamps from driving which show how he worked nearly 24 hours straight to try to pay his rent.
“I Ubered until five thirty in the morning and still didn’t make enough money to pay my rent," he said, holding back tears.
The driver says he was able to get help with his rent from the bank. As a person in recovery, he says he understand the importance of centers like Sovereign, but just wants the employees to be treated correctly.
“This is what I believe, if it wasn’t for these places I wouldn’t be here today.”
The Sovereign Health spokesperson says they expect to pay employees by the end of next week.
