State agency investigating failed Myrtle Beach call center for unpaid wages

A South Carolina state agency is investigating the failed call center that was supposed to bring 317 jobs to Myrtle Beach.

A spokeswoman with the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said the agency’s Office of Investigations and Enforcement has received complaints of unpaid wages against Greenwood Hall and that the department is reviewing the complaints and assigning an investigator.

“We have received about 15 complaints and are in the process of reviewing and assigning to an investigator,” said SCDLLR spokesperson Lesia Kudelka in an email. “The complaints relate to unpaid wages.”

Greenwood Hall was only open for several weeks before being shut down on Dec. 15; just 10 days before Christmas. All 53 employees lost their jobs, including some who had quit other jobs to work there, according to Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus.

In a previous interview with The Sun News, CEO Bill Bradfield said a deal to keep the company open fell through, and that resulted in the company’s closing.

Former employee Robert Hawkins said that Bradfield had a plan for the company, which serviced educational institutions, to be bought by another company called AnswerNet.

“What we heard when we came in Friday was that more schools dropped out,” said Hawkins. “I don’t know who. Because of that, they couldn’t make the deal work.

“This was last gasp effort. It was a Hail Mary that didn’t happen.”

What happened?

A letter from AnswerNet first obtained by WPDE and independently verified by The Sun News sheds light on the issues leading to Greenwood Hall’s closure.

The letter says a deal for AnswerNet to acquire Greenwood Hall fell through because Greenwood Hall’s board shut down its Texas call center on Nov. 30, resulting in clients going without service before the Myrtle Beach location was fully operational.

“It wasn’t until we got to South Carolina last Thursday that we found out that most of the clients had either canceled or had not restarted,” the letter says. “As we were there, two large clients canceled service because they had been shut off by GH (Greenwood Hall).”

The letter says that it would be “near impossible” to keep the Myrtle Beach location open due to the “client loss and the large number of people that had been hired.”

According to the letter, Greenwood Hall management decided to shut down the company “when it became clear, for the first time, that they would not have money to pay employees.”

Instead, AnswerNet decided to focus its efforts on acquiring Greenwood Hall’s Phoenix office.

Why Myrtle Beach?

The Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation knew of the financial problems with Greenwood Hall, but EDC President Josh Kay said he had confidence in the new CEO Bill Bradfield and the new management team.

Bradfield stepped into his role in August, after former CEO John Hall resigned in July. KBTX-TV reported the company’s board had told Hall of its belief that he had committed “gross negligence in the performance of his duties.”

The EDC offered the company $75,000 in incentives over three years if it hired 317 employees and made a capital investment of $1.4 million. The company was also supposed to move its headquarters from California to Myrtle Beach.

The company’s second quarter report with the SEC show it had less than $800,000 in assets, and no cash assets.

Greenwood Hall borrowed $3.5 million in 2016 and operated at a loss of more than $800,000 in the three months leading up to May 31, 2017, according to the report, which stated, “If the company is not successful in becoming profitable, it may have to further delay or reduce expenses, or curtail operations.”

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 6:41 PM with the headline "State agency investigating failed Myrtle Beach call center for unpaid wages."