Clinton College employees say they haven’t been paid by the school

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Employees at Clinton College say they didn’t get paid for part of last month, and the college hasn’t explained why.

Channel 9 South Carolina Reporter Tina Terry has been digging into the issue all day after hearing about the issue from employees. One of them says he had to quit working here to find a paying job.

On Monday, the college acknowledged there is a problem but stopped short of explaining how they got here, or when things will get better.

“It’s just been a lot ... for me, it breaks my heart to even have to like to tell the story because I love Clinton. I love love Clinton,” said Dishon Cobbins a former Clinton College employee.

Cobbins is torn between love and disappointment. He worked as a marketing communications coordinator at Clinton College for nearly three years.

“So this was an opportunity for me to just really showcase all different types of videos I can do and showcase the students,” Cobbins said. “I love what I did.”

But he never bargained on doing it for free. He says the school went from paying bi-weekly to once a month. Then he says the school paid him and others late in December, March and April.

Cobbins said: “So we didn’t get paid for our May for a month of May. And so we was already going to pay late, and then we get an email like a week or so later saying hey we can only send you guys a thousand dollars. And basically we don’t know when we’re going to get paid for the rest or when you’re going to get paid ever again.”

In a statement sent late Monday, the school’s president said, in part that the school is “aware of the financial challenges that resulted in employees receiving less than their full salary in May. We understand the impact this situation has had on our faculty and staff, and we sincerely appreciate their patience, dedication and continued commitment to our students and institution.”

She said leaders are working to address the financial challenges and that the board of trustees has been briefed on the situation, but it’s still unclear exactly what the financial situation is - or how it happened.

Cobbins says he had to quit working at Clinton to find another job.

“You can’t just keep people working and you don’t have money to pay to pay them,” Cobbins said.

Another employee claimed the school canceled health benefits without notifying employees. The school didn’t provide a direct answer to that question.

We’ll keep you posted on any developments.

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