A woman who held a summer job with the Austin Parks and Recreation Department claims she and several others haven’t received the $500 bonus they were promised from the city, Austin ABC affiliate KVUE reported.
The woman – whose identity the station kept hidden for her privacy and security – said the city didn’t pay her appropriately for her work as a temporary summer camp counselor.
"I qualified for it," she said in the report. "I worked. Why haven't I been paid what you put in writing?"
The complainant told KVUE that an email the city sent in May said workers would receive the bonus in question for logging 20 hours per week, adding its human resources (HR) department had given her the runaround as to when the check will come to her.
The city informed the woman she would get the bonus on either Sept. 16 or 30.
“My time is not free,” she said, KVUE reported. “My bosses have yet to get a clear answer from HR as to when we would be paid out."
The matter with the bonus wasn’t the first time the city didn’t properly compensate her for her 10 weeks of work.
The woman additionally divulged to KVUE that she was paid 13 hours less than what she had actually worked.
"I was working in triple-digit weather," she told the station. "I worked for it.”
The report said other temporary employees faced a similar situation as the woman.
According to a statement from the city, KVUE reported, "an extreme influx of applications” was to blame for the purported delay.
The woman said that the city must pay its workers “accordingly” if it wants to keep them.