Dothan hotel workers picketing

The hastily made slogans were written with Sharpies on the back of pieces of cardboard.

“Pay us, we will work. Don’t pay us, this is what you get,” one sign read.

More than a dozen employees of the Quality Inn and Days Inn on Ross Clark Circle walked off their jobs and onto Ross Clark Circle on Thursday to complain about bouncing paychecks — or no paychecks at all.

Current employees declined to speak on the record. A former employee, Gladys Taylor, joined the impromptu picket and said the hotel owners have had trouble paying their employees for months.

“We complained and they wouldn’t give us a reason,” she said. “There just ain’t no money in the bank.”

Taylor said she worked at the Days Inn from November of 2007 until June of this year, when she quit.

“It’s just not right. These people can’t pay their bills because their checks are bouncing,” Taylor said. “The owners are the problem.”

The hotels were bought in June of 2007 by Kronos Hotels and Lodges, LLC, an Atlanta-based business. It operates in Dothan under the names Portfolio-Dothan 1 and 2.

A spokesperson for Kronos said he would look into the matter. He did not return a call to the Dothan Eagle by deadline on Thursday

Other hotels owned by Kronos have faced similar problems.

Last month, the City of Sheffield in northwest Alabama terminated the lease of the Kronos-owned Holiday Inn, due to unpaid utility bills and city taxes.

The Lancaster Sunday News of Pennsylvania reported last month that employees of the Holiday Inn there were complaining of bounced paychecks. It also reported the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue placed a lien on the property last year for $29,259.28 in unpaid sales taxes. Further reporting revealed allegations of unpaid bills and other financial obligations in Iowa and Florida. The Lancaster hotel was purchased by Kronos at the same time it purchased the two Dothan hotels.

Kronos is owned by Charles Morais, a Malaysian entrepreneur. It is not known how many hotels are owned by Kronos, but court documents indicate Kronos estimated a 2007 gross payroll of just more than $20 million.