Part-Time School Bus Drivers Not Paid For Time Off: Employee

YORKVILLE, IL — As coronavirus concerns have closed schools throughout the state, one school bus driver with transportation company Septran, Inc. said they and their co-workers are facing weeks without pay from their employer. This bus driver-turned-whistleblower, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the company is not offering any of its part-time drivers or transportation aides in the Yorkville and Oswego School Districts any kind of paid leave. This lack of support during a sudden and unforeseen work stoppage, they said, has put employees in dire straits.

"As part-time employees we do not receive paid time off. But normally we know how to plan for our time off during breaks," they said. "Obviously this is a totally different type of situation where we're taking three to eight weeks off of work with really no plan due to an emergency situation."

The driver said that in lieu of providing paid leave until the schools re-open, the company told its employees to file for unemployment.

"We've asked if the company will pay us or help us, and we were told to file unemployment and this was just like a snow day," they said.

Coronavirus: Help For Illinois Workers During Outbreak, Shutdown

Besides saying this struck them as callous, the driver explained that filing for unemployment would not be a panacea. Unemployment benefits are calculated based on the previous year's income, and as part-time workers making about $18.50 an hour, the benefits the drivers and aides could receive now would likely not be enough to carry them through weeks without work. The driver estimated that they would receive less than half their normal weekly pay in unemployment benefits, were they to file for them.

"[I'd be taking home] $155 per week," they said.

Perhaps more worrisome, the fact that unemployment is based on the previous year's income means that should a Septran employee need to file for unemployment next year, this weeks-long gap in income would lower their potential benefits as a result. The whistle-blowing driver said they had a spouse that can help support them through unemployment regardless, but other employees are not so fortunate.

"I have a spouse, but we have a mortgage and bills; our budget is based off both of our incomes, and... some of [my coworkers] are single moms with no support," she said. "One of them I talked to today, she's like, 'I don't even know what I'm going to do.'"

The driver said that while they and their coworkers are understandably upset about the issue, there has thus far not been any effort to unionize together, or to protest the company. Many, the driver said, were afraid of future retaliation.

"Everyone keeps saying that [the company] needs to do something to help us, but no one seems to be willing to say anything," they said.

Patch reached out to Septran multiple times for comment on this situation, but did not receive any response.

Septran is only one company that is part of a larger transportation group known as National Express, LLC. National Express is itself the North American branch of the UK-based transportation corporation National Express Group, PLC. According to the corporation's profile on Reuters, it made over $140 million in net profits in 2019 alone.

"They... are having their best year in history this year," the driver said.