CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — More than 100 people protested over wages and working conditions at a local nonprofit company Friday.
Employees said they protested because Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, a mortgage-assistance company, has been short-changing them for weeks. They called Eyewitness News Friday morning, claiming they haven't been getting paid fairly.
Some employees said their managers threatened to fire them if they came down from their offices to talk to Eyewitness News, but they decided to do so anyway.
"You may work [from] 7:45 in the morning until 1, 2 [or] 3 in the morning," Latoya Jones, a former employee, said.
Jones and others said their pay has been consistently shorted.
Lakeshia Trowell said the paycheck she received from the company Friday was half what it should have been.
"If we work and we put our blood, sweat and tears into this, we deserve to be paid like everybody else," Trowell said. "It's not fair."
Eyewitness News went with Trowell to NACA's offices, but was asked to leave by security.
Meanwhile, police and fire crews were called after hearing suggestions that some employees were being kept from leaving the building to talk to reporters.
Outside the company's office, local manager Milka Perez admitted there's a payroll problem.
"There are some glitches in the system," Perez said. "It is being addressed [and] everybody will get paid."
But employees aren't the only ones with questions about NACA's finances. An Office and Home Concepts truck was waiting outside Friday, ready to repossess the company's furniture.
Danny Watkins, who works at Office and Home Concepts, said NACA owes them close to $9,000 and was supposed to pay two months ago.
He said he's giving NACA until next week to pay what it owes.
The controversy is a troubling turn for NACA, which made headlines last year by hiring hundreds of local workers to staff its Charlotte office.
NACA CEO Bruce Marks insists his company's finances are in good shape and that workers will get the money they're owed. "We're working right now to make sure that everybody gets their funds," Marks said. "Most of the people will get paid their money today."