Hundreds Without Jobs, Have To Wait Weeks For Unemployment Checks Reported by: Erin Wolfe
Monday, Mar 17, 2008 @08:05pm EST
MARTINSBURG, WV - Instead of reporting to work Monday, hundreds of West Virginia residents went to the unemployment office in Berkeley County.

On Friday, the AB&C Group offices in Ranson and Martinsburg shut their doors - saying the company went bankrupt.

Now many of their former employees will go up to six weeks without any income.

It's part of taking the next step forward - hundreds of West Virginians filed for unemployment after they lost their jobs on Friday.

"When I came here this morning, there was a huge crowd, everybody was standing outside trying to find out what was going on. And they weren't really ready for us I don't think," says Angela Mitchell, who used to work in the Martinsburg office.

Nearly 400 people showed up to Workforce West Virginia, but they had to be split into smaller groups.

They were all hoping to find some way of getting an income until they can find another job.

"I've got a light bill to pay, I've got telephone, cable, and a mortgage payment, put food on the table,” says former employee Ron Herbaugh. “All I want to do is work everyday. How's a guy like me supposed to do this?"

Employees who didn't have direct deposit didn't get paid. Now they say they won't get their unemployment checks until April 10th. And by then, it might be too little, too late.

Susan Goin used to work in the Ranson office. She says, "By the time unemployment kicks in I'll probably lose my car, lose my house, lose everything I have worked so hard to build for the past 12 years that I've lived up here."

For those who found job stability at AB&C, they now face starting over.

"AB&C changed my life,” says Joseph Nolan. “I had never worked anywhere longer than a few months. I worked there three and a half years, so right now I'm at square one. I'm unemployed again and I have to worry about paying the rent."

Now there are signs employees are considering legal action. Some are meeting with a local attorney next week.

Those who had direct deposit say they've been closing their accounts because some employees say the funds have actually been withdrawn.

A former payroll employee tells NBC25 that Sovereign Bank will be taking the checks back out by midnight Monday.

I've said this before "Organize".

The Union really IS your friend.

Seventy-Four years of supporting the "little man" can't be ALL wrong.

if folks yank their pay out, will they be responsible for RE-depositing it...they earned it, isn't it already theirs?

Yes, they can do it. I've had it happen to me before. My old employer accidentally paid everyone twice. I didn't even notice it. Instead of taking out only one of the two payments, they yanked both so they could figure it out. They didn't even tell anyone. We all got our pay statements that showed our pay had been deposited in our checking accounts. Little did anyone know, the pay had been removed. They cut paper checks a few days latter, but a lot of folks had bounced checks.

WOW, that sucks.

Bent, did your employer eat the bounced check fee, or at least, apoligize?

I've said this before "Organize".

The Union really IS your friend.

Seventy-Four years of supporting the "little man" can't be ALL wrong.

If this country passed some real employee rights laws...

Like?

Like putting a cap on how many days in a row an employee can be forced to work. How many hours in a day an employee can be forced to work. How many hours off in between shifts. Basic stuff like that. Compared to other countries, the America worker has very little rights. Then again, it's not like we are represented in government. How many politicians in D.C. have ever actually worked for a living?

Easy solution to all of the above. Don't like your job. Go find another.

Easy solution to all of the above. Don't like your job. Go find another.

It pains me to say it, but I agree with Patton.

If a company wants to keep employees and lower the rate of turnover, then they'll start taking care of their employees. If not, there are other, better companies to work for.

Exactly.

Of course if you don't like employment "at-will" you're always free to try to negotiate an employment contract. Just realize that any contract is going to impose obligations on both employer AND employee.

It has everything to do with just shoddy worker rights. Employers are able to get away with this because American workers have no rights.

And that's the problem. Because American workers have no rights, they must either take whatever crap they get, form a union, or find another job.

Bankruptcy frees a company from paying it's debts. That includes any pay it owes it's employees.

i didnt say it had nothing to do with shoddy worker's rights. i said its MORE than just that, in this case... this doesnt just affect the workers, it affects families...

and does anyone know why it will take so long for them to get any unemployment?? when i knew a few people, including my husband, years ago, and a few friends just this past year who were able to get unemployment very soon after being laid off... if they applied the day they were laid off, they could collect a check the next pay period... i think the most anyone missed was one pay period... but maybe those are unique cases? also they were all in md... does it make a difference?

So what types of job training should people concentrate on?

The secret is to find a career that can't be outsourced.

Programing? I know of no other career field that has been hit harder by out sourcing to India then programmers. As far as medical coding & transcription is concerned, those jobs pay a little over minimum wage. To become a nurse or x-ray tech, you need a degree.

Laid Off Workers File Class Action Lawsuit
Reported by: Erin Wolfe

Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008 @12:21pm EST

Unemployment12008-03-17-1205798847.jpgBERKELEY COUNTY, WV - Lawyers in Martinsburg have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the approximately 400 workers who lost their job due to the plant closing last week at AB&C.

"These workers were not paid for the last few weeks worked in violation of West Virginia’s Wage Payment & Collection Act," Attorney Joseph Ferretti said in a press release.

The AB&C Group companies in Martinsburg and Charles Town were shut down Friday.

Employees say they were told to pack up their belongings because the company had gone bankrupt.

Employees who didn't have direct deposit say they haven't been paid for three weeks.

"We live paycheck to paycheck, how are we supposed to pay our bills? How are we supposed to feed our children? Get their medicine? Pay our rent?" one worker told NBC25 on Friday.

Employees believe the parent company, BlueSky Brands, is to blame for the businesses shutting down.

Company officials have not responded to NBC25's requests for comment.

This is no longer true. Five years ago programming jobs were going overseas, but it didn't take long for US companies to realize that the talent pool of programmers in the US was better than anywhere else in the world. Many companies also faced many hurdles working with overseas firms, as well as facing debilitating production issues. In the long run, it ended up costing many companies more money. With all that said, it is certainly a good (and fun) field to go into if you're the puzzle-solving type and don't have one of those cool CSI jobs.

Programing? I know of no other career field that has been hit harder by out sourcing to India then programmers. As far as medical coding & transcription is concerned, those jobs pay a little over minimum wage. To become a nurse or x-ray tech, you need a degree.

The secret is to find a career that can't be outsourced.