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Federal Lawsuit Seeks Money from Pitter Patter Day Cares

A chain of child care centers that shut down after a Newswatch 16 investigation four years ago is in more trouble. The Pitter Patter Day Care chain in central P...

A chain of child care centers that shut down after a Newswatch 16 investigation four years ago is in more trouble.

The Pitter Patter Day Care chain in central Pennsylvania was once cited for violating several child care regulations.

The U.S. Labor Department claims that the owners of Pitter Patter Day Care took the money deducted from worker's paychecks for health insurance and then spent that money elsewhere.

Pitter Patter Day Care once had facilities in Williamsport, Loyalsock, Watsontown, and Muncy.

A Newswatch 16 investigation first looked into its day care in Loyalsock after former workers claimed it regularly ran out of basic food for lunches.

State health inspection records also found staffers at Pitter Patter facilities with violations including falling asleep while holding children, to "smacking a child," to having medicine that was not labeled.

All four Pitter Patters shut down, but now, the U.S. Department of Labor claims the day care cheated employees and insurers.

According to a lawsuit filed in federal court, Pitter Patter did not tell workers its insurance was canceled for nonpayment. The suit claims workers were stuck with a total of more than $60,000 in medical bills because the insurance company was not paid. The Labor Department also claims that the owners took and kept almost $1,500 that it deducted from workers for health insurance after its coverage was canceled.

The federal lawsuit wants the owners of the former Pitter Patter Day Cares to pay workers for both their medical bills and the money that was deducted from their paychecks that never was paid to the insurance companies for coverage.

We could not reach Pitter Patter's former owner Bobbi Jo Lundy for comment.

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