A local man contacted 17 News, upset his company still hadn't paid him for work he did back in September. He says he's not the only employee at his job dealing with this problem.
Eric Ross says he's been dealing with this for months, and so have others who work for Custom Built Training in Bakersfield.
However no one has filed a formal complaint with the labor board yet because they're afraid of losing their jobs.
Ross is a personal trainer for Custom Built Training. The company has been handling the personal training for "In Shape" gyms around Bakersfield since September.
"I got training as far back as the last week of August when I first started out with the company that I still haven't been paid for," said Ross.
He has a paycheck for the entire month of September, with only three hours on it, rather than the 25 hours Ross says he worked.
Channel 17's Madelyn Jarrett spoke to other personal trainers who say they too haven't been paid their work. "You got people that got rent and mortgages due," Ross said. "You can't tell your landlord or the bank, 'I'm waiting on my job to pay me.'"
Ross says when he calls his district manager or the corporate offices in Atlanta, Georgia they give him the run around.
Stephen Dow, president of Custom Built told 17 News he didn't know about the problem until Thursday afternoon. "Our corporate office was not aware they did not get paid correctly."
When asked when the problem came to his attention, he responded, "Today, two hours ago." Dow says it comes down to a personnel problem; the person in charge of forwarding hours to pay-roll wasn't doing his job.
"Apparently our regional manager, our district manager out there was not forwarding those forms to corporate for whatever reason, he is no longer with us."
Dow says trainers who haven't been paid can expect their money by the end of the week if they fill out the forms and get them in right away. But Ross says he's heard that before, and this time if it doesn't happen, he's going to the labor board.
