Never Give Up the Fight

In May of 2005, two 15 year old minors were hired to work in a costume shop in Batavia, Illinois called "All Dressed Up". The shop was owed by Julane Sullivan. She hired both minors to do various jobs. We as parents also worked in this shop. The mention of work permits were brought to her attention on several occasions. Each time she would say, "don’t worry about it", they don’t need one because she called the Dept. of Labor and she was told since they worked with the parents, a permit was not needed. Not true! She was having financial problems and asked if she could just pay them when her “big show order” came in. We charted their hours and we agreed, thinking she would keep her promise to pay. After all, she has worked with children for many years doing children theater. She even ran a theater in Batavia, Illinois called First Street Playhouse where the minors were performing that summer, as well as working upstairs in the costume shop. So, given that, we thought she had the best interest of children. After long hours and hard work by her employees, a few big shows paid her.

Still there was no pay for the minors. We confronted her and she gave us yet more excuses. Thinking she still would have the morals and respect of minors to pay them, they continued to work throughout the long hot summer giving up free time of their own to stay committed to a job they were hired for. In September, we learned that Ms. Sullivan never paid her bills to other people she owed, including a large sum to her landlord, other costume shops, and various others. We then realized all she wanted to do was to use these minors for hard work for her own gain with no pay. So that is when we decided to contact Paul Petersen. We knew of his hard work and dedication to minors all over the world. We felt he had the passion for minors that very few people have and would give us the advice we needed to move forward. Paul advised us to see a lawyer and file a complaint with the (IDOL) Illinois Department of Labor. The following day, we did just that. We met with a lawyer, filed proper paperwork and we all left "All Dressed Up Costume Shop" that very day.

Now here it is May, 2010. Many court hearings have come and gone. To our delight, they all have been in favor of the minors. But even with court rulings, Julane Sullivan was still refusing to pay the fines she received from the IDOL for hiring minors without work permits and for non payment of minors. That is when IDOL made the decision to turn the case over to the Illinois Attorney General’s office in Chicago. They in turn, sued her for not paying for fines and the minors. After 5 long years, justice was served. The 2 “minors” who are now almost 20 years old received their first payment. (Both using the money for college classes they are taking). They still have a long way to go to be fully paid by Ms. Sullivan, but now at least people will know that, number one, working for someone like Julane Sullivan is a huge mistake, and number two, as advised by Paul Petersen, never give up the fight when minors are involved. Advice that was well given!

Thank you Paul for all you do.
Laurie Bartlett
Alissa Bartlett
Sherry Poulos
Steve Poulos