IKEA knew contractor had history of problems, hired for Jacksonville grand opening anyway

RELATED: Some workers at Jacksonville IKEA opening got stiffed

The president of a company accused of stiffing workers for three months after IKEA's grand opening in Jacksonville is now breaking his silence.

On Tuesday, Accurate Event Group said it put a check in the mail for the unpaid Jacksonville workers -- after Action News Jax got involved.

Now Action News Jax uncovered that this isn’t the first time it’s happened, and IKEA knew it.

STORY: Police find 2 pressure cookers after Jacksonville IKEA evacuation

“That definitely bothers me that they haven’t done something to resolve it before now,” said Carl Baxter, the vice president of Jacksonville non-profit American Recovery Corporation, which connected seven struggling workers with the IKEA gig.

Those workers were told they’d make $10 an hour as parking attendants during the grand opening in November.

“It was just pretty strange that all of a sudden within 24 hours or less from your phone call, that they magically cut that check out of the blue. Again, we still haven’t received it yet,” said Baxter.

In June, multiple Ohio news stations reported that a subcontractor hired by IKEA named Tricon hired the same subcontractor, Accurate Event Group, to pay parking attendants for the IKEA grand opening.

Those workers told multiple news outlets their pay was delayed.

Accurate Event Group President Gordon Marrin called Action News Jax reporter Jenna Bourne on Thursday, but said he did not want their conversation recorded.

Marrin was unable to provide an explanation for the Jacksonville delay.

Marrin said the delay in payment to the Ohio workers came from a subcontractor his company hired, but could not remember the name of that company.

“We can confirm that all payments owed to our vendor Tricon from IKEA were made in accordance to our contract.   We are currently evaluating our partnerships with our contractors to ensure this does not occur again,” said IKEA spokesperson Latisha Bracy in an email.

Bracy would not answer the question Action News Jax emailed her twice:

If IKEA knew in June that workers weren’t being paid in a timely manner, why did it continue working with the same subcontractors?

Some workers at Jacksonville IKEA opening got stiffed A group of workers said they got stiffed after working at IKEA’s grand opening in Jacksonville.

Suspicious package shuts down Jacksonville IKEA for hours Suspicious package shuts down Jacksonville IKEA for hours

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