Local News in Brief : Workers Cite Pay Delays

Los Angeles County home care workers, voicing complaints about persistent delays in receiving their twice-monthly paychecks, demanded Thursday that they be paid in time for the Christmas holidays.

About 75 members of Local 434 of the Service Employees International Union--part of an estimated 40,000 home care workers in the county--demonstrated outside the county Department of Public Social Services building, charging that many of them had “spent Thanksgiving without turkey” because they did not receive their paychecks on time.

Home care workers, who are paid $3.72 an hour in public funds, provide housecleaning and cooking and do other chores for the elderly and disabled. But they contended Thursday that they sometimes endure months-long delays in receiving their paychecks because of a faulty payment system.

Carol Matsui, special assistant to the agency’s director, said county officials are “unaware of any massive problem” with delayed checks. “There may be some isolated problems, and when we find out about them, we correct them,” she said, adding that the checks to home workers are sent from Sacramento.