KXO RADIO - Supervisors given explanation

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Supervisors given explanation

Todays is : Monday, 01 December 2008

Written by George Gale
Tuesday, 05 August 2008
(Sam Couchman answers IVROP complaint)…Last week a group of young people went before the County Board of Supervisors. They complained that they were interns under the work-training program of the Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program and they were being paid below minimum wage. This week District One Supervisor Victor Carrillo and District Four Supervisor Gary Wyatt both wanted an explanation. They got one from Sam Couchman, head of the Workforce Development. He gave a detailed explanation on the funding process for I V R O P. Basically, Couchman the interns were in a youth work experience program. Couchman said the interns were paid a stipend for their participation, but the program was considered work training and not a job. He said minimum wage does not have to be paid for training. He said the funding was structured the way it was to allow for an increased number of participants. Carrillo said he was satisfied with the explanation, if the participants were given an explanation on how the program worked when they signed up.