Navy Yard and PHA guards can’t pay their bills due to late checks from security employer

Tahazha Woodard was at United Bank on North Broad Street when it opened Friday in hopes of cashing the previous week’s paycheck — it had been late, again — before walking a mile in subfreezing temperatures to her job as a contract security guard for a Philadelphia Housing Authority office.

Payday is supposed to be Monday at her employer, Sovereign Security LLC, which supplies guards to PHA. But the company didn’t make the checks available until Thursday afternoon, too late to cash it before United closed at 3 p.m. that day. United is one of the few places Woodard and other guards say will handle Sovereign paychecks.

Woodard, who joined the company in May, says checks are frequently late, and then workers have to wait until the bank verifies there is money in the company’s account to prevent the checks from bouncing.

“They were late the weeks of Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and New Year’s,” so the guards, who earn $14.40 an hour, unchanged since 2023, at PHA sites, were unable to access their preholiday pay until after each holiday, she said.

“I had to borrow for Thanksgiving, and for Christmas, I couldn’t get my daughter a tree,” Woodard said. “Other people have day care and phone bills that fall behind. I’m lucky, [phone provider] Metro gave me an extension. But this has got to stop. Why should I have to wait another week for my money?”

Sovereign’s owner, Richard Cottom, a onetime Drexel University security official, didn’t respond to requests for comment on the company’s tardy payroll.

Sovereign, based in Center City, also provides guards at the gates of the Navy Yard business complex, which is home to Urban Outfitters, Tastykake, Axalta, WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies, Navy offices, and other employers. Guards there say Sovereign pays them late, also.

PHA, which also has a separate police force, has contracted to pay Sovereign and Scotlandyard Security Services Inc. each up to $2.9 million each a year for guards, plus up to $2.5 million for Ingage Security LLC. Sovereign collected $6.8 million, more than either of the other firms, from 2021 through last spring, according to PHA records.

Cottom, who donated $1,000 to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s successful 2023 election campaign, has placed his firm at other properties run by city affiliates. The Navy Yard business center is overseen by the quasi-public Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. Until 2023, Sovereign also provided guards for Philadelphia Gas Works. Its current PHA contract runs through May.

Sovereign has been replaced at some PHA sites, guards said.

Since switching from Sovereign to Scotlandyard when that firm took over guard duties at PHA’s West Park Apartments last fall, Zayd Elkounen said he’s been paid regularly and on time — adding that Sovereign still owes him more than $500 from bounced checks that weren’t cleared up before the switch, plus his uniform deposit.

At Scotlandyard, “their checks don’t bounce, and they have direct deposit,” Elkounen said.

Navy Yard managers said Sovereign is a subcontractor there for Allied Universal Security Services, the largest U.S. guard contractor, which has headquarters in Conshohocken and in Santa Monica, Calif.

A spokesperson for Allied Universal didn’t respond to queries on why the firm had hired Sovereign.

Sovereign’s guards at the Navy Yard also “don’t get paid on time,” said Shirell Williams, who said Sovereign assigned her to the Navy Yard gate office to replace a guard who left after not getting paid on time.

“And when we do get our checks, almost nobody wants to cash them,” Williams added. “They look at the checks. It’s a no-go. They messed up with direct deposit, so you can’t rely on that. You have to go up to United, or that Acme up on Girard Avenue.”

The Inquirer previously wrote about Sovereign’s late payments last summer. Guard John Crawford said the company made its payroll on schedule over the next several pay periods, but in the fall began falling behind again.

Pennsylvania’s wage and hour law requires companies to set regular paydays and meet them. Sovereign’s contract with PHA requires it to comply with city rules and applicable laws.

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer who pays later than promised “could owe double wages,” said Eric Meyer, a Philadelphia-based labor lawyer with Pierson Ferdinand LLP. Workers whose checks are late “could ask the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate.” Also, the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law lets employees sue for 25% of the late wages, plus attorney fees, and includes provisions for sending late-paying employers to prison for up to three months — but only after wages go 30 days late, Meyer said. A 2020 New Jersey law is stricter, awarding employees up to triple their late wages.

It’s up to Sovereign to make sure payments are on time, PHA says.

“As with every contractor, Sovereign employees are not PHA employees and are not paid by PHA,” said Nichole L. Tillman, a PHA executive vice president.

As to the payment delays and the difficulty workers find in collecting their money, “If this is true, it is quite concerning, and we will address it with the contractor,” Tillman added.

Vladislav Kachka, a labor lawyer at Philadelphia-based Spear Wilderman LLC, said the contractor is usually considered the employer and held responsible for any violations, he said.

Tillman said Lynette Brown-Sow, who chairs the Philadelphia Housing Authority board, declined to comment.

“We’re supposed to get paid every Monday,” said Lamar Robinson of West Philadelphia, whose cousin, a Sovereign supervisor, recommended him for the PHA job when he joined the company last year. “I feel like I’m working for free.”

“The hardest thing is finding a place to cash the check,” Robinson added. “I did three double shifts in a row last week. My girl and me, we live paycheck to paycheck. I need to get paid.”

After United staff verified that Sovereign could cover the funds that Friday morning, Woodard was able to cash her check.

Daniel Baynes, a nine-year Sovereign veteran, also visited United to cash his check that day. “This is the third week in a row this company has paid us late,” he said. “When we finally got the checks, we went in after Christmas, and we had to wait again because the money wasn’t in their account.”

“These things transpire because not enough people say something,” said Karon Jones, a Sovereign guard at a PHA data center. “A lot of people have had to work a second job. We don’t want to abandon our posts. But we need to be able to pay our bills.”