City intervenes as Atlanta airport parking workers complain of payroll, benefit issues

The city of Atlanta is stepping in as transportation workers at the airport are speaking out about ongoing payment issues with their employer, the Vectour Group. 

Union members who provide parking services in lots and garages, drive shuttle buses and manage fleets say a third-party contractor hired by the city has been making late and inaccurate payments, and failing to pay their insurance among several other issues. 

But that employer is refuting those claims. On Wednesday, city officials are meeting with those workers to address those issues.

Union members say they've had payment issues with the Vectour Group, since 2024. But they say the issues have grown exponentially worse within the past year. As a result, members say they are missing out on home purchases, as well as being denied loans and financial aid for things like college tuition. 

Cheryl Goodman, a shuttle bus driver at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is one of about 200 union members providing Park ATL services that are accusing the Vectour Group of chronic payment issues.

"I was really supposed to be able to close on a home by the end of July so I could go ahead and have knee replacement again," Goodman said. "But because of the situation that I'm having with my real-time paycheck stubs, I'm not going to be able to do it."

That's because she alleges the Vectour Group gave her paychecks her bank wouldn't accept, saying they weren't legally sufficient. Goodman says some of the paystubs were handwritten, had incorrect dates, were issued weeks after she was paid, and fluctuated by hundreds of dollars. 

She says that because of the errors and delays, her financial institution couldn't verify her income and rescinded her loan offer. Her home purchase fell through. 

"I work. I missed family functions. I missed a lot of things to be able to save the money to purchase my home. Nobody gives me nothin," Goodman said. "They're not giving us nothing that we haven't already worked for, that we haven't already earned. We need it." 

The city of Atlanta hired SP+ to provide labor for Park ATL. 

SP+ subcontracts out to the Vectour Group which hires the airport's fleet maintenance crews and shuttle bus drivers like Goodman. 

The affected transportation workers are members of the union SEIU NAGE Local R-13 500, which is part of the National Association of Government Employees. They have a long list of complaints against the Vectour Group including: late payments, inaccurate payment amounts and paystubs issued weeks after payment. Workers say some of them received W-2s that were typed by hand, rather than issued on official W-2 forms. 

Others allege their access to their W-2s were disrupted -- some for the entirety of this year's tax season. They allege Vectour failed to pay insurance companies employees' premiums, even though premiums have been deducted from workers' paychecks. Plus, members allege direct deposit issues, saying Vectour has been paying employees through Cash App, Zelle and wire transfers.

In a statement, Vectour fired back at these allegations, saying that it quote: "strongly disputes allegations that employee wages have been intentionally withheld, mismanaged, or that payroll funds have been improperly handled."

The company goes on to say that it has met every single payroll and that its payment amounts have had an error rate of less than 1%. It says those incidents have been investigated and resolved. Vectour also says employees paid through Cash App and Zelle had consented to using those payment methods, though it's unclear how many times vectour used those platforms. 

As far as issues involving insurance coverage, Vectour says that was in reference to supplemental life insurance that affected seven employees, and that the company reimbursed those impacted in June. The company says all W-2s for the tax years between 2022 and 2025 were issued. 

During last week's transportation committee meeting at city hall, Vectour's president and CEO said the company is still working to provide same-day paystubs. 

Workers say they feel they are being exploited. "A lot of our members given their tenure are approaching a certain age range, and they do take advantage of them approaching a certain age range with the mentality of, 'where can they go?'" said Faith Brown, the vice president of SEIU NAGE Local R-13 500.

NAGE says while it's encouraged that SP+ and the city have been working with the union to rectify the situation, calling a work stoppage isn't completely off the table if these issues aren't resolved by Tuesday, Aug. 4, the next payday.

Vectour says it remains committed to working with the city, SP+ and workers to address questions and concerns. SP+ says it will be conducting an audit of vectour's practices as it works closely with Vectour, the union and the city to investigate. 

The union goes on to tell CBS Atlanta that workers were paid Tuesday, but that they did not receive paystubs. 

The union credits Mayor Dickens' office and city council for springing into action, but ask what kind of oversight the city will put in place for its contractors going forward so that this never happens again.