mustang.2006
Junior Member
My company in SE Wisconsin closed in December 2008 with no notice to the employees. We were told by the finance director just a few weeks before that they had acquired a new contract and our company would be safe for at least another year with the possibility of two more consecutive yearly contracts to follow with the same customer. And we were told that if anything changed, we'd be given 90 days' notice. Then we were all called into a meeting to hear that the company was closing immediately and we were to go home right then. End of story. They've already held an auction to sell off the equipment and all 3 dozen or so of us are on unemployment, and many on foodstamps because we were already underpaid. Was this a legal closing and shouldn't we at least be entitled to 90 days' of pay in lieu of notice as a severance package? We had to fight just to receive our remaining vacation pay, but no one has received anything else. Ironically, the former employees who actually mismanaged our company into this spot were all let go months ago and each received a nice severance package and the offer of retraining. Those of us who remained with the company out of loyalty and did our best in a bad situation have done so with no pay raises or cost of living allowances for at least 6-7 years, our insurance was lowered to the point of being almost no good to us, and now we've been thrown out in the cold literally with nothing to show for our loyalty. Do we have any rights here, or are we just out of luck? Thanks for your time.