Cleaning service claims Belleville nursing home breached contract

Operators of a commercial cleaning service are suing a Belleville nursing home for $88,460 over an alleged broken contract.

Ray White and Mary White, who conduct business as White's Commercial Cleaning Services, claim they had an agreement to provide cleaning services for The Lincoln Home from Nov. 28, 2007 through Nov. 28, 2008.

According to a lawsuit filed Aug. 14 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, the defendant on July 11, 2008, "unilaterally terminated the contract purportedly as of August 11, 2008."

The Whites claim they were paid through July, but are owed for the remainder of the contract. They claim payments in the amount of $22,150 monthly from August through November remain unpaid.

"Defendant ordered Plaintiff Ray White, the owner of the company and manager of the operations, to stay off Defendant's premises after the end of July 2008," the complaint states.

"Defendant breached the Agreement by ordering Ray White to remain off of the premises because he had properly and legally brought concerns of sexual harassment and/or of improper patient care to the attention of the administrator of Defendant's facility, as he was taught and instructed to do in Defendant's training and is otherwise required to do by law and/or public policy," the complaint states.

The Whites also claim the defendant breached contract by not giving them proper notice of their termination.

"Defendant placed additional requirements and arbitrarily attempted to revised the terms of the Agreement by putting in place a different pay schedule, and/or made payment subject to additional conditions or the discretion of Defendant," the complaint states.

They also claim the defendant changed requirements as to the handling of laundry, "including without limitation the handling of laundry that was not marked with resident names, and by wrongfully accusing Plaintiffs of failures of their own staff and administration."

The Whites are represented by David N. Damick of St. Louis.