Family of Autistic Man who Worked for Applebee's without Pay Want Answers, Not Just a Paycheck

Vicki Dyl said pulling her 21-year-old autistic son away from his job at Applebee’s in Middletown this summer was a painful decision to make.

But her son, Caleb, had not been paid for about a year and enough was enough.

“He was happy and productive and wasn’t sitting in the house watching cartoons,” Dyl said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “He loved it and loved being productive.”

Now, state officials are looking into why Caleb Dyl, who lives in Portsmouth with his parents, never got paid despite working hundreds of hours at the restaurant as part of a placement arranged by Pawtucket-based Resources for Human Development, a nonprofit that provides services to people with developmental disabilities.

And his parents, who patiently waited after months of inquiries and filling out payroll and tax forms twice, find themselves once again advocating for their son on behalf of all people with disabilities. It’s not about the money, they said.

“It’s about making sure this doesn’t happen to someone else,” Vicki Dyl said.

Caleb’s story was first reported by WPRI’s Walt Buteau and in less than 24 hours it went viral. The Dyl family didn’t expect the story to explode, and they worry about knee-jerk reactions because aside from the lack of paychecks, they said RHD has provided extraordinary services for their son. And Applebee’s had no idea that there was a problem and only found out about the issue when a reporter called with questions.

“Somewhere there was a communications breakdown between the people supporting [Caleb] and Applebee’s themselves,” Dyl said. “That’s what we want to make sure that doesn’t happen. Our first thought was ‘how many other people are in this situation?’”

Applebee’s has quickly tried to right the situation, Dyl said. Eleanor Clancy, a regional director for the restaurant chain, reached out to the family and offered to cut a check for more than 160 hours and said Caleb is welcome to come back to his job as a prep cook.

“They said they’d be more than happy to have him back,” Vicki Dyl said. “He would be happy to go back.”

Path to the Job
Caleb Dyl’s path to a job at Applebee’s began in 2013, which is about when he was graduated from high school and became involved with RHD, which was supposed to help him transition from the confines of school to the expanse of adulthood.

He was tried out for jobs at HomeGoods, Pizza Hut and Applebee’s and eventually they decided that Applebee’s would be the best fit for him.

The plan was for Dyl to get training for about a year without pay and transition to a paid position if everything worked out well. And it did, with Dyl working hard and impressing his co-workers as he portioned and prepared food in the kitchen.

“One young man told me they were lucky to have him, that Caleb just continues to work and work and he won’t stop until the end of his shift,” his father told WPRI.

Vicki Dyl recalled Caleb coming home from work and being “covered.”

“I asked him ‘what did you do today?’ and the person supporting him that day said ‘I think he portioned out every shrimp in the sea today!’”

The paychecks were supposed to start being deposited into Dyl’s bank account in August of 2014. But after months of inquiries and waiting, no money ever showed up.

Dyl’s parents contacted RHD, assuming they’d fix the problem. They were told that there was a paperwork problem, so they waited. And waited, eventually filling out new paperwork in November of 2014 before waiting some more.

Months went by. The Dyl family mentioned the lack of pay to his caseworker several times and was told to be patient.

“We said we have been patient,” Dyl said.

Caleb stopped working for a brief period of time in March during a transition period because he turned 21, Dyl said. She recalled a meeting with RHD before June when they asked if he’d be willing to work through the summer. At the time, RHD said they’d find some other job for him in the fall if the problems with pay continued, suggesting that they had reached out to Applebee’s.

“So the story changed and we were like, ’OK, well, we’ll let him stay for the summer if you’re going to pay him,’” Dyl said.

He went back in June and worked through the end of July and no paychecks ever came.

“When we didn’t see anything at the end of July, we said, That’s it, that’s enough,’” and Caleb stopped working, Dyl said.

Frustrated, Robert Dyl, Caleb’s father, reached out to WPRI. Buteau had reported on Dyl’s involvement with the local Challenger Little League and the family thought some media attention might shine light on the problem for their son and others who might be in the same position.

The story has since exploded.

RHD has not responded to several requests for comment.

Now, the family is “waiting it out,” and hopeful that RHD can sort through the problems and fix whatever internal failure led to their son working without pay for so long. Despite their frustrations, they are hoping to work with RHD and resolve the matter.

“The fact is they had done such great work with him,” Dyl said. “They take him to the Y for activities, he goes swimming, plays basketball with all of his peers. They really do a great job supporting him.”

The family is concerned about some of the response to their story, including calls for boycotts of Applebee’s, which they said has been unfairly maligned in some reports and comments. In fact, Dyl said, Applebee’s has shown much concern over the situation and is trying to right the situation. She worries that virulent outrage will dissuade other businesses from opening their doors to other employees with disabilities.

“People are not going to hire our children,” Dyl said. “There are a lot of other kids coming up behind my son.”

For a parent who has felt like a bulldozer for 21 years, blazing a path for her son and other parents to follow, this battle over paychecks is nothing new.

Dyl recalls fighting for inclusion in the schools and working hard to ensure her son got the same opportunity as other kids.

When he was diagnosed at 26 months, doctors said 1 in 1,000 people in the country were autistic. Then it was 1 in 500. Now, Dyl said, the figure is more like 1 in 86.

“Obviously there’s a problem here,” she said. ”How many autistic individuals were there in the 1960s when I was a kid? There weren’t that many. Now, there are three right on my street.”

Dyl remembers an encounter with a kindergarten teacher who seemed to suggest, ”what makes you think he deserves to be in my class?” she said.

“He deserves it because he worked his tail off to learn his numbers, shapes and letters, 40 hours a week every week,” Dyl said. “There has been a huge change for things like that, but there’s still such a long way to go.”

The fact is, if Caleb was not autistic and was working a regular job, he wouldn’t have to wait so long for a paycheck.

“Anybody, after three weeks, would be gone,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to work things out.”

Photo Courtesy: Dyl Family