You own and operate a licensed childcare program.
Yes.
You decided to say, "Hey, screw you.
I don't care that the workers who take care of my child don't get paid."
Who does that?
I knew the money was owed.
This is my livelihood. This is how I live.
No. Enough of that.
You are irresponsible, entitled, and ungrateful.
That's what you are.
[announcer] Now, on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Los Angeles, California.
Your Honor, this is case number 2069,
Little Precious One's Family Childcare versus McJimson.
You guys may be seated.
- [Judge Levy] Thank you, Cassandra. - [Cassandra] You're welcome.
- [Judge Levy] All right. Mr. Harris... - Yes.
... you own and operate a licensed childcare program in LA?
Yes. I've been owning it since 2020.
All right. And the defendant's daughter attended your daycare
- for about a year? - Yes.
[Judge Levy] You're suing her for late fees,
for her failure to provide the two weeks' notice of termination,
the balance owed of September.
And the total amount that you're suing her for
- is $1,480. - Correct. Correct.
- [Judge Levy] Okay. Now, Ms. McJimson... - Yes.
[Judge Levy] ... according to your answer, you say that she's already been paid
by the child's assistance program
and that the penalty for the late notice should be waived
because she caused you to lose your job
as a result of being unreasonable
with respect to your request to keep the child
- and things of that nature. - Correct.
So, Ms. Harris, let's start.
You said that since 2020,
- you've been running that business? - [Kelly] Yes, sir.
- Licensed? - Yes, sir.
[Judge Levy] And number employees that were working for you
in August of 2023?
Three. Including myself, it would be four.
Okay. And the contract that she signed
provided for fees, fines,
and penalties for late payments and failure to give two weeks' notice
- before taking the child out. - [Kelly] Correct.
Correct.
[Judge Levy] At the end of each month, you put together a timesheet.
Kinda. She--when she brings her daughter on a daily basis,
she signs in a code on the iPad.
That code dictates what time the child was there.
When she pick up the baby, she signs the baby out,
and that code dictate when the baby went home.
At the end of the month, I review it.
I put my fees on there. I sign it electronically.
And then it automatically goes to her, electronically,
and she signs it.
So there could be no claim
that the hours, the times, the days were in any way manufactured,
- exaggerated by you? - [Kelly] Correct.
[Judge Levy] And that sheet is then turned in by you
to the childcare assistance program
- and that's how you get paid. - Correct.
- [Judge Levy] Is that right, ma'am? - [Daejhah] Yes.
[Judge Levy] Okay. There was a breakdown in your relationship.
And as a result of that breakdown,
the defendant, according to your complaint,
refused to sign off
on that attendance sheet that you sent to her,
- and as a result, you didn't get paid. - Right.
The contract that we're talking about
that you are seeking to hold the defendant accountable for,
- have you seen a copy of that, ma'am? - No.
Okay. So you provided us with all the documents
that you claim support your case.
- Ma'am, you did the same. - Yes.
You didn't have a copy of that. Take a look at that.
You see the bottom of that?
- Those your initials? - [Daejhah] Yes.
[Judge Levy] Okay. I'll take that back.
[Kelly] So Daejhah refused to sign the electronic timesheet
on multiple occasions,
which caused the payment to be 95 days late.
She only signed the payment when she got served the court documents.
And when she say that it's inflated,
in my contract, it says when the fees are late,
it's--the very first day it's late, it's a $25 late fee.
And then if it's not paid the day after, it's a $10 late fee per day
that you don't sign.
It was 95 days before that money went into my account.
I don't recall or remember
as far as me having to pay out of pocket or late fees
only because I'm through a single moms development,
so the county pays her.
[Judge Levy] Right. So your statement is even if you were late,
it's your understanding from the contract that that was not your responsibility.
That was the subsidized program's responsibility.
- Correct. - [Judge Levy] Here's your problem.
In the contract that you signed, subsidized care,
parent is responsible to pay
for any unauthorized hours, days, as well as all late fees.
I chose on my own to pay that out of my pocket.
- I could have called my worker... - [Judge Levy] Okay.
... and told her to pay that
- on my behalf... - [Judge Levy] Okay.
... but I didn't. I chose to pay it out of my pocket...
- [Judge Levy] Okay. - ... out of respect
for her nail appointment.
- Out of respect for her nail appointment? - Yes.
And you were doing out of the goodness
- of your own heart? - [Daejhah] Yes.
Right. As opposed to what the contract said you had to do
- or you could be held responsible for it? - Correct.
[Judge Levy] Okay. We got it.
- How old is your child? I'm sorry. - She's four.
- Four. And... - She started at two
- and I just signed her out in September. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
And you knew that if you refused to sign off on that sheet
and she wasn't gonna get paid,
then the hardworking people who were there every day
making sure your daughter was safe would not get paid?
[Daejhah] No. So from my understanding,
the last payment of the last month that she was there,
once I signed her out, from my thinking, I'm thinking
that they're just automatically gonna pay due to the transfer of the schools.
So you're saying that there was never any request made
by the plaintiff that you sign off on that?
She's never called, reached out, or anything
as far as saying that she's never been paid.
I found out that she didn't get paid once I was served.
- You sure about that? - Yes.
[Kelly] No. She's telling a story.
First of all, Daejhah is a known liar.
- We're gonna start there. - [Judge Levy] Oh, okay. I don't wanna--
- I don't wanna know right now. - Okay. All right.
So, in my paperwork,
it shows where she looked at it and where she went out.
It shows that she did not sign them and it shows when she signed them.
It shows when the documents were sent to her
and when she looked at them.
I don't understand what she's saying.
[Judge Levy] So let me stop so I can kind of put this in a way
- that you can understand, ma'am. - [Daejhah] Uh-hmm.
- She has computerized evidence. - Right.
[Judge Levy] There is a computer thumbprint
of all the times that you opened it, saw it,
- and therefore ignored it, okay? - Correct.
So do you have any other evidence that would contradict that claim?
No. As far as her computer work, no, I do not.
Great. So do you want to amend your prior answer
that you did not know that that money was owed
or that she was not getting paid as a result?
No. I knew the money the-- I knew the money was owed,
- yes. But did I... - [Judge Levy] Okay. Great.
And at any time, do you remember eventually signing the document
consistent with the plaintiff's testimony
that the only time you signed it was when you got served
- with the lawsuit? - Correct.
[Judge Levy] Do you remember what you wrote down?
- Yeah. - [Judge Levy] What did you write down?
- See you in court. - [Judge Levy] See you in court?
- Oh. - [Judge Levy] So, again,
that's the way that you ended the relationship
with the woman who was responsible
for the care, safety, and welfare of your child.
I have nothing further.
[Judge Acker] So why not sign?
Because I lost my job.
And me being a single mom and her knowing my situation,
was I being...
You know how many single mothers I know?
You know how many single mothers there are?
[Daejhah] Yes. I'm here by myself.
- You know, I don't have any family. - Well, yeah, you know what?
- I have no support. So... - [Judge Acker] I'm gonna stop you.
I'm gonna stop you right now because I find your approach...
- Uh-hmm. - ... to your contractual obligations...
- Uh-hmm. - ... and your cavalier attitude
entirely disrespectful and not acceptable.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Tell us the story about her dad.
Isn't he restricted to supervised visitation at your request?
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Daycare owner, Kelly Harris, is suing Daejhah McJimson
for almost $1,500 in daycare services,
but Daejhah claims Kelly was paid by a daycare assistance program.
I wanna talk about when you were asked about paying the late fee.
- I think it was what, $2 a minute? - Yes.
[Judge Acker] You said, and I wrote it down,
"I chose to pay.
I could have had my case worker pay but I chose to do that."
You had an obligation to do that.
Your case worker is retained by the people of the county
of which I am a citizen.
So when you decide to blow off your contractual obligations,
I am paying them and the rest of the taxpayers in the county.
So this is not about whether or not you decide,
"Today, I'm gonna do what I'm supposed to do.
Tomorrow, y'all can take care of me."
No. Enough of that.
Ma'am, you actually accept clients
who are being subsidized
- by other entities, correct? - Yes, ma'am.
And there are plenty of daycare agencies and plenty of facilities
- in your county, in your neighborhood. - Uh-hmm.
- Yeah. Yeah. - [Judge Acker] I'm from LA.
There are plenty of places that say, "Oh, no, no, no.
You're gonna write me a check. I'm not dealing with any county.
I'm not dealing with any charity.
- This is between you and me." - Correct.
So it's actually a benefit to people to have somebody like you
who is willing to say, "You know what?
You're not able to pay this bill on your own.
I'm gonna deal with the county,
a bureaucracy that sometimes will hold up my dollars
- for months and months." - Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
[Judge Acker] "But because you need help from me,
- I'm gonna work with you." - [Kelly] Correct.
That's what you agreed to this arrangement in the first place.
Exactly. And then I'd like to hone on to Daejhah speaking on
she's by herself and she's out here.
We have helped Daejhah. We have kept her daughter after hour.
[Judge Acker] And I actually wanna talk to you about that
because there was a text exchange, the defendant submitted it,
where you were upset that she couldn't keep your daughter
- on a Saturday. - [Kelly] Uh-hmm.
[Judge Acker] And you said,
"I don't have workers coming in on Saturday at 4:00.
You can drop her off Saturday at 5:00."
- Is that what happened? - That is what happened.
[Judge Acker] And then she said, "You better bring somebody in here at 4:30
'cause this is what I need."
Oh, she was upset. But here's the policy.
I ask all my parents, "Do you need care on the weekend?"
I ask them on Sunday for the following week.
So Monday through that Saturday, what do you need?
Because I have a life as well. So if...
Yeah. And I'm gonna interrupt you
because, again, she made that point about the nails.
Like her job is not to be your fulltime nanny.
If after she does her work
and after she fulfills her part of the contact,
she wants to get her nails done, more power.
And the thing about the nails, it was the Friday before my wedding.
It is. By the way, you do not have to justify the time
that you spend on your own.
You are not at her beck and call. This is not Downtown Abbey.
And I apologized.
I said, "I apologize. I don't have anyone to drop what they're doing,"
because Daejhah elected to change her schedule.
"What, you can't--you can't find nobody,"
and, "I don't believe y'all can't come in,"
and, "This is why I chose you because you're 24 hours,"
and, "This don't make no sense," and I'm gonna have to find somebody else.
And I said to her, "So are you giving me your two-week notice?"
"If I was giving you my two-week notice..."
[Judge Acker] You know, I saw that.
She said, "If I was giving you notice, you would know."
- It was nasty. - [Kelly] And then I said...
[Judge Acker] There was no--hold on now. I wanna talk to you.
Seriously, there is no reason for you to be so nasty and disrespectful
to this woman who was looking after your child.
And then you said something like,
"They were always accusing her of having COVID."
I saw evidence that there were symptoms
and they said, "Bring a test." And you didn't bring a COVID test.
You sent a picture of the test.
How many other kids are in the daycare?
I have a total--I'm licensed for 14
but usually on a regular Monday through Friday,
it's probably like nine.
So all she's trying to do was protect the other kids.
There was no reason for all of this attitude.
Why not just bring in the COVID test?
'Cause I was already at work and the COVID was left at home.
[Judge Acker] You think that you were just well within your rights...
- to blow somebody off... - I do believe...
- I didn't blow her off. - [Judge Acker] You did blow her off.
- You know why you blew her off? - It was a last-minute...
[Judge Acker] Because you had a contract.
And what she did because of your conduct, she was harmed
because she helped you, and that's not right.
Judge DiMango?
You are irresponsible, entitled, and ungrateful.
That's what you are.
Would you wanna put your daughter in a classroom in a small area
- with other children that have COVID? - No.
Do you think other parents would want their children with your daughter
- if she has COVID? - No.
What would it have taken from you to test your child for COVID?
I did. I just left the test at home.
- And by the time I dropped her off... - [Judge DiMango] But, at least...
... I had brought in the doctor's note.
- But nobody believed that. - The previous doctor's note stating
that she has allergies, she has medication she takes for allergies.
[Judge DiMango] But the point is nobody believes
that you have the positive test
because, one, you didn't bring it in,
- two, you took a picture. - Right. I understand.
So why would somebody who's doing all of that to cover something up
instead of just saying candidly,
"All right, I'll keep her home today 'cause I don't have it
or I'll make other arrangements."
And the thing is, once again, entitlement, ungrateful, irresponsible.
You wanted her, in this exchange which I have in front of me
regarding can people stay at 4:00, can they come back.
You know, you're like annoyed at them
that they can't change their lives for you.
I did send her my schedule like every day--every Sunday,
- I will send her a schedule. - [Judge DiMango] Uh-hmm.
What happened at that time was the day I had to go training
- for my license. - [Judge DiMango] Uh-hmm.
I let her know that there could be a change in the schedule
in the beginning of the week.
I usually don't work on Saturdays.
But I had to go do my license at the DMV on Saturday.
- [Judge DiMango] Did you get that notice? - I asked if anybody was available.
[Judge DiMango] 'Cause I don't see it in all of this exchange.
- She did not tell me, no. - [Judge DiMango] I don't see it either.
So moving along on that,
you say, "Can we try to work for 4:00
since your workers have to be there early anyways?
I'm on a 90-day probation and it's already a bad look.
I would have to have her dad with her since I don't have a choice.
That's if he can watch her for those few hours."
Now, tell us the story about her dad.
Isn't he restricted to supervised visitation at your request?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
When I received the COVID test,
I looked it up and realized that the COVID test was from Google.
Same number, same picture, same everything.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Daycare owner, Kelly Harris, is suing Daejhah McJimson
for almost $1,500 in daycare services.
Kelly claims Daejhah stopped paying
after she was caught providing a fake COVID test result.
Daejhah claims Kelly was paid by a daycare assistance program.
[Judge DiMango] Tell us the story about her dad.
Isn't he restricted to supervised visitation at your request?
- Yes. - [Judge DiMango] Okay.
So that means that he cannot be with your daughter.
And the visitation order that we have indicates
that not only can't he be unsupervised,
one, you can't be the person supervising,
two, it's gotta be a mutually agreed upon person,
and, three, it's gotta occur at a particular location.
Not on the street with him bringing the child to her daycare center.
Why do you think that they were pushing that issue with you?
It was for her to pick her up at a certain time.
It doesn't matter what it was for.
- He can't be... - And I was getting off of work at 5:00.
It was supposed to be supervised visitation
and he was with somebody that was gonna be supervised with him.
He cannot be
with the child unsupervised.
- [Daejhah] And he had supervision. - So let me ask you, why do you think
that she pushed that issue with you?
[Daejhah] I don't know, but, again...
[Judge DiMango] You had no idea why this woman...
- [Daejhah] He had supervision. - [Judge DiMango] ... would say to you--
you--is there something wrong with you?
No.
[Judge DiMango] According to what I read, paragraph six,
"Father shall have monitored visitation with the child
at a minimum one time a week.
Monitor shall be mutually agreed upon
or a professional monitor paid for by the father.
Visits shall be at a time, place, and location mutually agreed upon."
This does not mean that he should be picking up your child
with somebody to deliver the child to them.
They have no idea who's supposed to be supervising.
They don't have advance-- do you get the purpose for these rules?
For whose benefit?
- For my child. - Thank you.
Can you please step up and tell us your role here?
My name is Talia Holly. I'm a teacher.
I've been working with-- in education field for about four years
and then I've been working at the daycare for about like two years.
Okay. Talia, what can you attest to in this courtroom regarding the case?
So for the COVID test, I personally was in charge that day to call her.
And when I received the COVID test,
I actually--since she does have history of telling, you know, stories,
I looked it up and realized that the COVID test was from Google.
Same number, same picture, same everything.
I was a little disappointed, so I called Daejhah personally
and was like, "Daejhah, I noticed that the COVID test is not a real one.
But if you have the real COVID test and it's negative,
then you--all you have to do is bring it to the daycare."
And she said that she couldn't find it at home
and then she never brought it back.
So I can see where your issues with her credibility have surfaced
and continued to remain.
Thank you very much for that testimony.
- [Talia] Thank you. - I have no further questions.
So we are going to retire to deliberate at this time.
Thank you.
Court is now in recess. Parties will be recalled.
[dramatic musical sting]
So she's getting subsidized care,
which means the taxpayers are contributing to care for her child
at no expense to her,
and her sole responsibility was just to sign a piece of paper
that allows the women who are working to do that job to get paid.
And because she got angry
that the plaintiff and her staff
uncovered her blatant lie
about the COVID test
and because they insisted on her compliance
with a supervised visitation order,
she decided to say, "Screw you, screw your workers,
I don't care that you get paid, and I'll see you in court."
- That's what she wrote. - [Judge DiMango] Uh-hmm.
"I'll see you in court."
When you get something for free, it has no value.
So I believe that Ms. Harris has made out her case.
She entitled to every nickel of what she's asked for,
which is $1,480.
I mean, this defendant is the reason, frankly,
that so many people can't get the help they need
because they don't wanna deal with people who don't have to do the little bit.
All she had to do was like sign a form so these other women could get paid.
You know, she's living somewhere in Buckingham Palace in her head
and she needs to come back to reality.
I frankly wish we could give the plaintiff more
just for the inconvenience
but I know that we can't.
Everything you both said,
because I find that she's irresponsible, entitled, and ungrateful.
- [Judge Levy] Done. - To quote myself.
[chuckles]
[dramatic musical sting]
[Cassandra] Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded that you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Cassandra. - You're welcome.
- [Judge Levy] So, Ms. McJimson. - Yes.
[Judge Levy] All you had to do was sign a document
and the taxpayers were going to make sure
that your responsibilities for the care and wellbeing of your child
were taken care of.
But because you got your panties in a twist,
you decided to say, "Hey, screw you.
I don't care that the workers who take care of my child don't get paid."
Who does that?
If you had to work 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week, weekends
caring for other people's children
who were sick, their nose running, changing them,
you'd wanna get paid.
But you didn't care about that.
You just got angry
because you got caught lying about a COVID test.
You got angry because the plaintiff refused
to allow the father of your child
to come and violate the supervised visitation order
that you brought.
And as a result of what you said,
a father's right to see his own child was restricted.
And then when it's not convenient for you to pick up your own child,
all that goes out the window. [laughs]
Now, all of a sudden he's father of the year.
What you did is the reason why there are not more people like the plaintiff
willing to take on parents who get subsidized childcare.
The reason is because of you.
We are unanimous.
You owe her $1,480 and you're paying every penny.
- [gavel bangs] - Thank you.
This case has concluded. All parties are excused.
[theme music plays]
They didn't even try to hear me out or hear my story or my life,
but it's understandable.
She sent that fake COVID test and when she got caught,
I think that's when she got mad.
I just left the original one at the house.
It's really sad
because not only are they affecting the other children
but they're affecting who these kids go home to.
Every little thing, I just had to come either get my daughter
or them just butting into my work schedule.
It's really unfortunate.
[announcer] Did someone break an agreement?
Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
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["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]