DOVER, Del.- Alana Dudley is a single mother who used to work as a medical assistant instructor at the Harris School of Business' Dover campus---and she says she is owed roughly $2,000 in wages.
It's a problem Alana said is not exclusive to just herself.
"Most of us can't us can't last that long," she said during an interview.
Dudley and two current employees of the school who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution told WBOC they have not been paid in roughly a month for their work at the Harris School of Business, a for-profit career training school with campuses in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and other states that offers programs to help students become medical assistants, technicians, or other roles.
Alana Dudley of Dover.
Dudley said she and her colleagues began experiencing paycheck problems over the summer, after Trigram Education Partners, LLC. moved to acquire Harris School of Business.
"Every paycheck except for one has been late and we're talking about anywhere between a week, to three days, to four days, to now in some cases a month and a little more than a month," she said.
Employees and Dudley told WBOC they also became concerned when some payments this year had been sent to them via wire transfer rather than through the regular payroll system, a process that also prompted them to be charged a fee and left them questioning whether taxes had been deducted or not from their wages.
Dudley said employees received little communication from Trigram leadership about the late payments over the summer but were told in email messages that there were both technical and financial challenges tied to the change in ownership that delayed payments.
But Dudley, who said she quit working for the Harris School of Business over delayed wages, and the current employees said they have not been paid in over a month.
WBOC reached out to Trigram for comment on the claims of unpaid wages over multiple days, eventually being referred by the company's chief legal counsel to CEO Jon Coover, who did not return multiple phone calls and an email message seeking comment.
The payroll issues Dudley alleged may not have been limited to the Dover campus, according to a letter from an organization that has accredited many of Harris School of Business' campuses, including its Wilmington office.
The Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training sent a letter to Coover late last month stating Harris School of Business was in danger of losing the group's accreditation. The school lists that organization has having accredited its Cherry Hill, NJ, Danbury, Conn., Linwood, N.J., Upper Darby, Pa., and Wilmington, Del., campuses. The Harris network's Dover and Voorhees, N.J., locations are accredited by another group.
ACCET's interim executive director, Judy Hendrickson, wrote in the Sept. 29 message to Coover that Trigram would need to show cause why the school's accredited status should not be withdrawn, a "serious" action based on the institution’s failure to demonstrate that it met the organization's standards for accreditation. The letter stated that Harris School of Business had lost its eligibility for federal student aid programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act.
Hendrickson wrote in the letter that ACCET had received "complaints from an employee and landlord regarding the failure of TEP to make payroll and pay rent at some or all of its nine campuses, including those of Harris School of Business." The letter went onto say that ACCET had received an urgent complaint that "campuses were ordered by TEP to temporarily close, payroll payments owed to faculty and staff were delayed in August and unpaid in September 2020, and rent for campus facilities was not paid and eviction notices were received at some campuses."
The letter went on to say that following the complaint, Trigram failed to provide the requested documented evidence of the financial capacity and viability of TEP institutions, including the Harris School of Business.
"In the meantime, TEP acknowledged that it owes employees for wages for September 2020 and landlords almost $750,000 for back rent. Additionally, TEP acknowledged that it notified at least three of its nine campuses on September 25, 2020 of a two-week break and furlough of instructors, effective September 28, 2020 – October 12, 2020, including the Harris School of Business."
1008 - Harris School of Bus... by Tom Lehman
In the letter, Hendrickson said ACCET was requesting a report on the failure of the institution to submit a materially complete application for a change of ownership to the U.S. Department of Education, including the status of the required letter of credit and efforts by the institution to reinstate its eligibility to participate in Title IV programs, including the submission of a required letter of credit. She said while TEP responded that it remains “hopeful” that money will be transferred by Oct. 2, "funding had yet to be obtained for the letter of credit or operating expenses required for TEP campuses."
"In the meantime, TEP acknowledged that it owes employees for wages for September 2020 and landlords almost $750,000 for back rent. Additionally, TEP acknowledged that it notified at least three of its nine campuses on September 25, 2020 of a two-week break and furlough of instructors, effective September 28, 2020 – October 12, 2020, including the Harris School of Business," she wrote.
According to the letter, ACCET is requesting a report updating Trigram's efforts to submit an application for change of ownership involving Harris School of Business and reinstatement of the school to Title IV programs. The report was also to include evidence the school is meeting ACCET accreditation standards that includes documentation of all outstanding monies owed to operate such an accredited institution and written notice provided to employees, students, and each state licensing body, regarding the operational status of the ACCET-accredited institutions, to include suspension of classes due to COVID-19 or financial issues and notification of the resumption of classes.
Further failure to demonstrate compliance with ACCET accreditation standards could result in withdrawal of accreditation for Trigram schools and the denial of final approval of the change of ownership by the commission, according to the letter.
Dover's Harris School of Business location has been shuttered since late Sept., with a message on the school's Facebook page stating a two-week Fall break had been added to the school's calendar.
"This provides a chance to do a Deep Clean at our campuses as we head into the Fall Flu season. This also gives a couple of extra weeks for our students who are parents to have their children better situated with at home or hybrid learning," the message read.
But Dudley said such a break is highly unusual and said she and her colleagues desperately want to know when they'll be paid, especially as bills pile up.
"It's tiring," she said. "We can't do this any longer."
