2 Norwalk School Workers Sue District In Time Card Pay Dispute

NORWALK, CT — A pair of Norwalk Public Schools employees have sued the district in a pay dispute in which they claim the district "committed wage theft" by altering time cards.

Hope Coles and Sadiya DeIrish filed the class action lawsuit last week in Stamford Superior Court and accused the district of "removing time from all hourly wage employees to circumvent the concession of benefits and avoid the obligation to pay additional wages."

Both Coles and DeIrish have administrative jobs, with Coles earning $34.11 per hour, and DeIrish earning $22.78 per hour. Click here to read the lawsuit on the state Judicial website.

The two claim that over the past couple of year, and maybe longer, the district systematically changed "all of the employees' timecards to reflect their 'schedule' instead of actual hours worked." Coles and DeIrish claim other administrative employees were ordered to log into the district's computer system to make the changes.

The changed time cards rarely went above 37.5 hours worked, with part-time employees' time cards rarely reflecting more than 29 hours.

"Defendants' wage theft scheme effectively cheated Plaintiffs, and all those similarly situated to Plaintiffs, out of countless hours worked for which they were owed wages at their respective hourly rates," the lawsuit says.

Patch reached out to a district spokesperson Brenda Wilcox Williams for comment, but she declined, citing pending litigation.

She referred questions to Deputy Corporation Counsel M. Jeffry Spahr, who told Patch that the two plaintiffs had not submitted a complaint over the issue prior to filing the lawsuit.

"We believe that this is a labor matter that should be handled through the grievance process," Spahr said. "If she believed that the time records were being handled improperly, she should have brought this up. It is unclear why she would wait and then file litigation."

The lawsuit does not say how much the two are seeking in damages on behalf of the class, but it asks for the standard amount of more than $15,000, and estimates that time cards were reduced 10-15 hours per week for many of the employees.

To view the lawsuit, click here.