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Troubleshooters; Employees of Taft Treatment Center Not Paid

Posted at 4:00 PM, Feb 19, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-24 16:14:47-04

At least 40 employees of the Shoreline Treatment Center in Taft tell the Troubleshooters they didn’t get paid last Friday.
They also say, it’s not the first time it’s happened to them this year.

We went to the facility this morning and met the director, Eddie Underwood. “Y’all need to leave our premises. ”

“Alright. What can you tell these people that haven’t been paid ?”

“I aint gonna tell nobody nothing. We’re a business. Y’all need to leave our premises.”

“But I mean, they’re contacting us about not getting paid.”

“Well, they’ll get their checks. Y’all just need to leave.”

“This week ? Can we tell them this week ?”

“You can leave. You don’t have anything to do with this business.”

It was Eddie Underwood who released a letter last Friday which read in part, ‘unfortunately, we are unable to released payroll checks at this time. The necessary funds have not arrived. We are anticipating that this will be resolved early next week. We greatly appreciate your patience and are very sorry for the inconvenience.’
It goes on to say ‘thank you for your loyalty and your commitment to what Shoreline is.’

The letter also says the owner, Derik Anderson is selling Shoreline, and that ‘the new owners have assured Mr. Anderson that they will be supportive of Shoreline and the employees.’

Shoreline is a treatment facility licensed by the state to treat adolescents with substance abuse disorders.
We are told there are an estimated 40 clients and employees.

The people who contacted the Troubleshooters say this also happened to them in January. They also declined our offer to tell their stories on camera. They feared for their jobs. One said Shoreline’s HR manager told them if they didn’t show up for work, they’d be fired.