Kid Cam daycare workers trying to collect owed wages

WILMINGTON — When the Kid Cam Day Care Center on Wrightsville Avenue in Wilmington closed its doors Monday, parents and workers with had very little notice.

Employees are now trying to recover lost wages and parents want their money back as well.

Wednesday night Kid Cam employees gathered at the day care center to meet with the owner. But the owner was a no-show, and now employees want action.

Precious Johnson not only worked at Kid Cam, but her two-year-old daughter was part of the program. Johnson is owed a month’s worth of wages and she’s out the enrollment fee for her daughter.

Johnson said, “I feel very disappointed because I don’t have a job right now and I’m struggling. I just wish she’d pay my money to me that I worked for.”

On Sunday Kid Cam director Natasha Toomer got a call from the center’s owner, saying due to financial reasons doors would be closing and employees were out of a job. She then relayed the news to her staff.

Former Kid Cam employee Jennifer Trepper said, “I was shocked, and trying to put the pieces together. On Friday afternoon, we were told to tell the parents to take everything out of their children’s cubbies, that they were going to get new cubbies over the weekend — and obviously, that wasn’t the real reason.”

Kid Cam employee Sarah Beth Kosem said, “It was very dishonest… When you consider the full-time employees, this is their paycheck that they use for rent and bills and all that. And all of a sudden, no two weeks notice like we would have had to give that everybody’s out of a job.”

And employees aren’t the only ones left holding the bag. Parents are also owed enrollment money. Employees say the day care center has had financial problems before, but things were eventually resolved.

We went to the house where Kid Cam’s owner lives, but no one came to the door. Since she was a no show last night some employees are thinking about taking the owner to small claims court to recover their wages.

As for the roughly 80 kids who went to Kid Cam, we’re told that most have been placed in other day care programs.