The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) Friday confirmed it is currently paying out unemployment benefits to some part-time educational employees working for private companies. In an April fifth press release, GDOL stated it would pay employees who work in public schools for private companies (i.e. outsourced employees) for regularly scheduled breaks, such as holidays and summer vacation. The move comes under pressure from USDOL (United States Department of Labor), which threatened to withhold federal unemployment benefits from Georgia if these benefits are not paid out to these educational workers. Public educational workers are paid for holidays and summer vacation during the school year, where some educational workers employed with private companies are not. The move by the state and federal labor departments is an effort to establish equity regarding these benefits.

In July of 2011, the Gilmer County School District privatized its custodial services, signing a contract with Southern Management-ABM. The contract states Southern Management will provide custodial services for 250 working days a year. In section seven of page one, the contract goes on to address holiday pay.

“The contractor (Southern Management) is not obligated to perform services of the following holidays. See Exhibit A,”

the contract states. Exhibit A, however, does not indicate any such holidays.

In a recent correspondence with FYN, Linda Burnette, a former custodial worker for Gilmer County Schools, said Southern Management indicated the company would not pay these breaks.

“When Southern Management took over,”

she explained,

“they said they would not have (paid) holidays nor do they offer vacation pay. We never saw anything in writing from the (school) board or Southern Management.”

She went on to say she did not know how the company handles summer work, although she said she understands it allows only a few employees to work during the summer break.

FYN attempted several times to contact Southern Management for a response. The company, however, has not returned our requests.