MILWAUKEE, Wis. — On Monday, TMJ4 told you about trades workers at Milwaukee Public Schools who believed they should've been paid for working in-person during the pandemic.
Other MPS employees got paid double, or as the district calls it "hazard pay," for working in-person when COVID-19 first broke out. The tradesmen didn't.
For nearly the last two years, these guys have been trying to find out why they were overlooked.
MPS' transparency has not only been an issue for TMJ4 and the media but also for its own employees. These tradesmen said MPS district leaders left them in the dark.
"Why didn't we get paid?" Tim Shaffer asked.
Shaffer works in the grounds shop at MPS. It's a question he and two laborers, Ryan Charles and Chris Poehlman, have been seeking answers to since 2022.
Watch: Jenna Rae fights for answers on lack of hazard pay for tradesmen
That's after they found out secretaries, food service workers, engineers, and other MPS staff got paid double time for working in-person during the pandemic.
"I started making phone calls in early September of 2022, and it was the typical, you know, 'Okay well I'm gonna transfer you to this person," Charles explained.
"Then there were literally some times where that person would transfer me to the person I just talked to. So, I just got the run around with phone calls for two or three weeks," he continued.
Charles decided to try a different approach.
"I started sending emails in September of 2022. That's initially when we started kind of digging into this," Charles said.
The paper trail starts on September 27, 2022.
An email from the senior director in the Office of Human Resources to the Chief of HR, said Charles had called the office inquiring why they [the tradesmen] were not included in hazard pay.
Charles followed up that same day, emailing the Chief of HR, Adria Maddaleni. Remember that name, you're going to hear it a few more times.
Watch: Part one of Jenna Rae's investigation into pay discrepancies in MPS:
Charles sent two more emails before he got a response.
On October 8th, the administrative assistant in the HR office emailed Charles and said she forwarded his concerns to Maddaleni.
On October 10th, Maddaleni responded, and said she "cannot speak to why the board did not expand hazard pay to other employee groups." She also offered to look into if Charles' shop was eligible for a one-time stipend.
Charles sent four more emails in October, including some to the district's board of directors, which voted on previous hazard pay decisions.
In November, Charles and the other tradesmen got an email that said employees mandated to work on-site, with the public, for 20 days or more, between March 18th and May 20th, would receive a one-time stipend of $500.
"We were all a little bit surprised because that's nowhere near the amounts anybody else got paid," Charles explained.
Charles continued pushing. He questioned the amount of their stipend and asked if the board would pay out additional money in the future.
On December 2nd, an employee at the Office of Board Governance sent Charles an email that said the board cannot get involved until the administration has had an opportunity to investigate. The email goes on to say Charles' concerns have been forwarded to Maddaleni and she would get back to him within five business days.
On December 14th, eight business days later, Maddaleni responded and said the $500 stipend was determined based on funds available and board approval. She added that she cannot speak to what may happen in the future.
"Emails were answered, but they weren't answered in a way that any of us felt was satisfactory," Charles said.
Charles and the other tradesmen eventually requested a meeting with Maddaleni and other district leaders.
A calendar invite shows that meeting happened on February 14, 2023. The tradesmen said they brought an attorney with them.
"I think the meeting was basically set up to appease us, and then they shut the meeting down when we started asking some hard questions," Charles said.
Questions Charles said district leaders ultimately stopped answering altogether.
"I basically just tried to keep sending emails to the board governance. Why aren't you responding? I probably made 50-60 calls to board governance and it was always 'well this is in legal's hands now'," Charles explained.
In November 2023, the tradesmen called Jenna Rae.
"We'd like some answers. We'd like to hear from MPS," Shaffer said.
"If the money was earmarked by the federal government for that specific reasons, what happened to it," Poehlman asked.
We began requesting interviews with MPS' Chief Financial Officer, Martha Krietzman, and Chief HR Officer, Adria Maddaleni in early May 2024.
For weeks, we were told the district was working on our request. When we followed up, they said no one would be available.
Within the last week, the CFO, resigned.
We asked again and never heard back.
"You can't just make a statement and say well we're gonna call everybody back, we're gonna deem you necessary for the function of the system, and then systematically decide not to pay people," Charles said.
The tradesmen said they still haven't heard a word from the district about hazard pay and haven't received any additional money. We'll continue to ask MPS about this to try and get them answers.
If you're an employee, parent or student at MPS and have a concern, email Jenna.Rae@tmj4.com.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
