BY JIM HALL

Workers at MicAnd Assisted Living, including those who bathed, fed and gave medicines to the elderly residents, say they have not been paid for their final days of work.

One worker said she is owed $850. Another said she is due $1,080. A third, who is owed almost $1,500, said because she was not paid, her car was repossessed and she received an eviction notice.

"I feel betrayed," said Mary Penn, a medication aide. "I took them by their word that they were going to pay us."

MicAnd had 57 residents when Patricia Newman and Sandra Lamb, who operated the home, told state regulators that they planned to close. The last of the residents were moved on Aug. 10. The building on Onyx Court in Spotsylvania County is now vacant.

Newman, reached by phone yesterday, said that the workers are not telling the truth. She declined to comment further.

"These people need to take it up with their lawyers if they feel that we've done something improper or if they weren't paid," she added.

Four workers disputed Newman, saying that they did not receive paychecks on Aug. 20, which should have been their final payday. They said they know of at least six others who were not paid.

Michelle Tucker, a 21-year-old medication technician from Spotsylvania County, said that about half the 20-person staff resigned after Newman and Lamb told state regulators that they planned to close.

The workers who remained pulled double shifts and took on extra duties, Tucker said.

"A lot of people worked really hard to help that last month go by as smoothly as possible," she said.

Tucker said she and another worker arrived for work on one of the last days and were told to fix a meal for residents. She said they went to Walmart and bought frozen lasagna and served that along with salad and garlic bread.

"We didn't know how to use anything in the kitchen," she said.

Workers at the home were usually paid twice a month. In recent months, they were paid with personal checks, rather than payroll checks, with no evidence that federal or state taxes were withheld, they said. For one pay period last month, they were paid in cash, they said.