The owners of the former Clarion hotel say they have paid their employees, and some are now lying about it.

Last month The U.S. Department of Labor launched an investigation into wage theft claims at the former Clarion.

Earlier Friday, a former employee of a Cedar Rapids hotel said she still hadn't been paid for weeks of work. She said a check just bounced Thursday. She and other employees received gifts and groceries from local businesses, unions, and others who the employee stories have moved.

After that story aired, the owners called TV9 and said they wanted to clear things up and gain the public's trust back.

The owners of the former Clarion Hotel started off the first ever employee Christmas party with an apology Friday.

They say it's finally time to move on, now that all of the employees have been paid.

"Basically it's lies," Co-owner Hassan Hussain said, "But they're saying they still haven't been paid. I know there was a toy drive today, and I don't know if they said it just because to take advantage of that toy drive. So that could be it. I'm not blaming them. I know those problems we had, but we rectify them, and we did pay them."

He says this whole issue of people not getting paychecks was an internal management error that they've fixed. He sent TV9 a screenshot showing the check from the employee in a previous story did clear.

"We took care of it. We fixed everything, and hopefully the 29 next week is the payday so everyone will get paid on time," Hussain said.

Despite not getting paid for weeks, some employees decided to stay on.

"Well, I had surgery in November 2 on my back, and I was in the hospital, and that check bounced, and I didn't want to stress," dishwasher Mike Glandon said, "A lot of people were telling me to quit, and I was like, no, I'm not. I'm not gonna quit I've here for so long I'm sure things will work out."

He says he has gotten all of his pay.

The parent company of Clarion told TV9 it terminated the hotel from its system once it learned of the situation and conducted an internal review. That means the hotel can't use the Clarion name.

Hussain says that's also not true.

"That was the original plan. We were going to change the name. We are working with a couple of different companies to bring in a different name here, a better name then Clarion because we want to provide a better brand then Clarion," Hussain said.

A manager says they are now working toward fixing their problems and are planning on staying open.