My entire workplace- laid off

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yes, that’s correct. Yesterday they called everyone to a meeting and here are the highlights:

The factory is having a “temporary layoff”- could be a week, could be a month.

The factory is ceasing operations under the current owner, but some “investors” are in the process of buying it. They are looking at things now (operations, the books) as we speak.

Oh, we’re not getting our paychecks either, as the company is out of money. Maybe next week.

The bummer of all this?

I LOVED THIS JOB! I was looking forward to working there while I went to school. It was easy work (I’m the Systems Administrator), the bosses loved me, and I got great pay. My schedule rocked, too.

I didn’t get paid! I now have to borrow money from my sister, because not getting paid made my car payment check bounce. Good thing I didn’t send anything else out early.

The upside?
I believe they really are trying to re-open and have us all come back. I have some inside info that says they’re not jerking our chains on this.

I already collected unemployment this year, so I know they’ll pay me pretty good while I’m out. I can wait a few weeks to see what happens there and collect while I’m doing it.

It was an awful day:

I’ve never seen a group of sadder people in my life. Some of these workers had been there for 15+ years, some are husband/wife teams (who didn’t take home checks this week), some are single mothers. Frankly, if I were the owner, I would have sold my personal belongings to make payroll rather then send a bunch of people home checkless, but that’s just me.

I didn’t turn them in to the labor board about the no-pay because it didn’t hurt me personally THAT bad, and I really want my job back if/when they re-open. I figured that by the time I got home yesterday, someone already called on it.

I also had the operations manager sign a spreadsheet I made out of all the hours I worked and didn’t receive pay for in the last two weeks. I thought that was smart in case I have to go to court for my pay.

Thanks for letting me vent, all. Life sure has a way of throwing you a curveball when you least expect it, but at least this one didn’t come in the form of personal tragedy or some other horror. I’ll take unemployment and being broke over death any day of the week.

Zette

2

That sucks.

BIG time.

It sounds like it will all work out though, and you have the right attitude: it IS only a temporary setback.

3

Wow that is a big bummer, but I agree you are taking it the right way, i just feel bad for the husband/wife teams, single mothers who are not taking home a paycheck. I mean what are they supossed to do? Well thankfully it didnt happen to me, and if it did I agree there are alot worse things then being jobless.

4

Was there any explanation for this? Costs too high? Customers didn’t pay their bills? Be interesting to know what happened.

I’d be ticked about missing a paycheck. Seems like someone must have known they weren’t going to have the money to meet payroll, but they let you work anyway?

I hope it’s only short term – especially since you liked the job so much. Enjoy your time off!

5

Zette: So sorry to hear it! I’ve been through the layoff mill myself, last March. I was working for one of Microsoft’s outsource partners to support Windows 2000 when they pulled the contract. 350 of us were laid off. Some of the people had been with the company for more than 8 years, and we had all worked our asses off to get in to the Windows training.

All I can say is maybe it’ll work out for the better for you. I ended up getting rehired at the same company as a technical writer, which is what I really wanted to do. I love my job now, and ended up getting a raise. Here’s hoping the same goes for you!

6

The same thing happened to me in Nov 1998. First, one Friday they tell us that a stack of paychecks were stolen, so we will have to wait until next week to cut us a check. The next week, They closed the doors and sent 90 people home. Then, as a capper, everyone comes to find out that the 2 prior paychecks had bounced and those amounts were deducted from each of our bank balances (I still don’t see how this can be legal, but apparently its some shit with direct deposit blah blah .) So, we find out we are all laid off, and we didn’t get paid for our last SIX WEEKS of work.

But it really did all work out for the best. I did some BS tech support contracting work for 5 weeks while I looked for another job, and very soon I found the job where I am now, making 60% more and a much better atmosphere.

So, keep your chin up…something good will come out of this. And I doubt (if this job doesn’t take you back) that as a sys admin you’ll be out of work for very long.

Good luck.

7

i’m sorry to hear this. i hate when things like this come by with no warning. it seems like they should have given y’all some warning so you could do finanial planning.

what a bad time of year for this to happen.

8

Damn, that’s gotta suck. Hopefully everything turns out on the upside in the end. Good move with that spread sheet, smart thing to do. Good Luck, best wishes.

9

Meet with the other employees and get all of them to keep records of how much pay they are owed. If the company really does go bankrupt, you’re all among those owned money by the company, and you have just as much right to a share of the company’s assets as any supplier who hasn’t been paid. All of the employees should be prepared as a group to go to bankruptcy court to get the money owed you. In the meantime, start looking for another job. Even if the company finds investors and re-opens, it would be useful to find out how much your services are worth on the open market. Perhaps you’ll find such a good job offer that you’ll want to take it regardless whether your company re-opens.

10

Zette, I really hope it all works out the way you would want it to. If it doesn’t here’s to hoping you get an even better job. I remember how nice you were to reply to a posting of mine a while back when I was looking for a book I couldn’t find on my own. I’ll pray that BOTH of us find jobs, as mine will be gone, at the latest, this time next year. I work in “a major Mid-West mental health care facility”, that is “moving to a state that a Bush is gobernor of” and not taking us with it. As a baker I wouldn’t have been taken anyway, as the “large university” the facility is going to has it’s own staff. But I digress.

Keep us posted, will you? We need a happy ending if there is one to be had. Or if the place doesn’t open again tell us what you do get.

11

Best of luck
I’ve been working for 34years now.
Almost all of my resume consists of no longer in buisness employers.
You’ll probably find yourself in jobs that you could not imagine yourself doing before you retire.
Best to make it an adventure than let it get you down.
GOOD LUCK