A national childcare provider has been accused of withholding thousands of dollars in pay and superannuation from early childhood educators at centres across Canberra. It's prompted the resignation of more than a dozen educators which will effectively close at least one centre this week, while widespread stress leave taken by other staff today saw another centre forced to shut its doors.
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00:00The children are the reason staff at Genius Child Care centres across Canberra kept showing
00:08up.
00:09But after months of delayed pay and not a cent of superannuation, educators say they
00:14can't hang on any longer.
00:16It's every single fortnight we don't know if we're getting paid.
00:19It's compelled at least 15 educators to resign from Genius Child Care in Gowrie in Canberra's
00:25south.
00:26The national provider runs more than 30 centres across the country, including five in the
00:31ACT.
00:32I have to ask my mum, or can I borrow some money for rent?
00:34I have to ask my boyfriend, can you cover my side of the rent this week?
00:38And it puts that strain on those relationships and Genius doesn't see that, they don't care
00:42about that, we're just a dollar sign to them.
00:45I don't think at some of our centres they've ever been paid on time.
00:49Educators don't want to be identified because they fear the company won't pay out their
00:54annual leave when their resignation takes effect on Friday.
00:58The ABC has seen attempts by eight staff members to rectify the issue.
01:02I get left on read every single time I message them, emails don't get responded to, calls
01:07get ignored, like it takes them weeks to get back about, you know, the simplest of things
01:11and there's been no communication from Genius.
01:14We all got rent, mortgages, you know, we got children, food we need to put on the table.
01:18It will mean more than 100 families may have to find new child care, but parents are supporting
01:23the educators' decisions.
01:25We were shocked and appalled really, that this could be happening.
01:31I'm nervous that I'm going to turn up one day and they're not going to be able to take
01:35my children and then not only that, it's the flow on of fees, am I going to then have to
01:40be paying for something, like a service I'm not being provided, what am I going to do
01:43with my children that day, you know, I still have to work, I have to attend an office.
01:47That was exactly the case over at another Genius centre in Simonston today, where the
01:51pay issues forced every staff member to take stress leave, forcing it to close.
01:57Why is this company, you know, getting away with this and how come they've gotten away
02:03with this for so long and why is it still going on?
02:07This afternoon, staff finally received this fortnight's pay, which should have gone into
02:12account last Friday.
02:14Genius acknowledged there had been a payroll delay due to a technical issue, which it says
02:19has now been resolved.
02:21The company blamed the delays on its rapid expansion and said an audit was underway to
02:27address any discrepancies.