Press Release
Contact Name (Parent): Scott MacMillan
Phone Number: 508-310-3018
E-mail: scottymac@gmail.com
Contact Name (Provider): Monique Grant
Phone Number: 347-419-5900
E-mail: mgforbes727@gmail.com
website: http://tinyurl.com/savesunflowerdaycare
Last Friday, at close of business, parents and staff at Sunflower Daycare were notified of immediate closure. Parents were faced with no childcare for the following Monday and thousands of dollars lost in paid fees. Staff were faced with no employment and have not been paid at all in January. Upon hearing the news, families and staff have organized with the intention of forming a licensed, worker-run daycare center reaching out to Brad Lander's office, the Mayor, state representatives and the Department of Health. Despite our efforts, the crisis of no childcare for 30 families and unemployment for all providers remains. The Department of Health delivered a letter yesterday notifying us to shut down the daycare by next Monday.
Many families have had multiple children there over the years and have close, loving relationships with the providers. Currently, Sunflower employees from two different sites - 1268 Prospect Ave and 311 Greenwood are collectively owed nearly $14,000. Collectively, parents are owed a total of $94,000 for payments made for months where service will not be provided. One family gave payment for January through May days before the notice was given that the daycare would be closed. All 30 families have already paid for all of January and February. Families and staff have reached out to Sunflower LLC about lost wages and payment but so far have not received a response to this issue.
This is not the first time that employees have gone without pay. In the spring of 2015, the US Labor Department found that Sunflower owed back wages totally $20,838 to employees. After an agreement was made to pay the employees what they were owed in 4 installments, the US District Court found that owners intimidated employees, refused to pay them and in some cases forced them to give back some payment.(https://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/whd/WHD20151327.htm). It has recently come to parents' attention that staff at Sunflower were paying for food out-of-pocket because the owner was not adequately stocking the daycare and that some staff were being paid below minimum wage.
The families and staff are currently working with The Working World (theworkingworld.org) a group that finances and guides conversions into worker-owned co-ops in the hopes of turning the daycare into a worker-run facility. We need to keep our daycare open and are requesting that the Department of Health provide an extension while our daycare staff and parents complete the necessary paperwork to transition the daycare into new ownership.
Our intention is simple: we want to keep Sunflower open and continue to provide employment and care for the staff and our children. We are calling on the Kensington and Windsor Terrace elected officials, state representatives and neighborhood to help us keep Sunflower Daycare open!
