School bus drivers appealing to Kemp over COVID unemployment repayments

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - Clayton County school bus drivers are trying to appeal to Gov. Brian Kemp to ask for him to intervene over a reported conflict involving unemployment benefits.

The Georgia Federation of Public Service Employees, a union that represents the bus drivers, says dozens of school bus operators and students are planning to show up at Kemp's official residence Thursday.

"We need support, support our bus drivers," the group of bus operators and students chanted.

They carried placards and posters outside the governor's mansion in Buckhead. 

"During the pandemic, a lot of us had to file for unemployment and after it was all over with, we were called fraud and criminals by Clayton County and the Georgia Department of Labor," 21-year-bus driver Sharon Mitchell complained.

The union says that more than 100 bus drivers have been hit with legal demands by the state to repay unemployment benefits they received during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Georgia Department of Labor, the bus drivers may not been eligible for these payments when schools went virtual. 

Some of the demands reportedly range from $20,000 to $50,000.

"I can't afford it. I can't afford it. We are bus operators. We don't make a whole bunch of money. We have had bus operators arrested, marshal’s come to some of their houses and serve them," Ms. Mitchell explained.

"The striking part is, some of these individuals weren't called or even contacted until two years later. Some were contacted, not even realizing a police officer was going to show up at their door," said Daishon Lee, the executive director of the Georgia Federation of Public Service

Clayton County drivers claim that several people have been arrested or had the police show up at their homes.

"I am hoping the governor will hear our cry for help," Laquanda Barber, a bus driver from the school system who says she had the police visit her home.

The union is hoping that Kemp and the state can step in and stop what they're calling "false reports" by Clayton County Schools.

"Gov. Kemp did not have these grandmothers arrested for the first time in their lives, but we believe he can fix it", said Lee.

The Georgia Department of Labor has asked those who believe they do not have to repay the alleged overpayments to submit an overpayment waiver.

"We are not frauds, and we are not criminals. We just need Gov. Kemp to help us out," one bus driver concluded.

The governor's office says this is a Department of Labor matter and their office has no authority in the matter.