Business & Tech
Urbandale Center Closing Permanently
In an email sent to parents Wednesday, the owner of the embattled Imagination and Education Station child-care center says she will close the center permanently. Theresa Mulhern blames striking workers.
The Urbandale branch of Theresa Mulhern's child-care business will be closed permanently, Mulhern said in an email to parents Wednesday.
One of the parents who received the email forwarded it to Urbandale Patch. Another parent, Kricett Cockayne, confirmed that she too received the email about the closing.
In a separate email sent Sunday night before workers began , Mulhern wrote that any employee who did not show up for work on Monday would be fired.
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Striking workers said Wednesday that they have had no communication from Mulhern that they have been fired. They had hoped they would be paid on Wednesday, based on an email from a parent who said Mulhern pledged to do that in a .
In an email sent Monday night, Mulhern indicates that officials from the Wage and Hour division of the Iowa Workforce Development office contacted her the previous Friday and gave her until Monday at 6:30 p.m. to pay the employees without a fine.
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In the same email, Mulhern said she would not rehire any of the people who went on strike.
"For those of you who want me to rehire these individuals, it will not happen in this lifetime," the email said.
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