Ex-Zoots workers left high and dry
Wait for final pay amid bankruptcy
Former employees at the bankrupt dry-cleaning chain Zoots spent the weekend getting clothes back to customers on their own time — then learned yesterday their final directdeposit checks had been reversed because there were no funds to cover them.
“They turned their back (on) their customers and they turned their back on their employees,” said Lisa Gecer, who until last week was the manager of the Zoots in Attleboro. “We are expecting to get paid for when we were working.”
Gecer and Helene Brown, a supervisor at the Attleboro Zoots, said they began calling about 450 customers after they were told to lock the doors on Friday. They spent the weekend calling and giving people back their suits, shirts, dresses and more.
“We stayed all weekend long, obviously trespassing, we called every customer and they picked up their clothes,” Brown said. “Our customers were loyal to us, so we chose to be loyal to them and make sure they got their clothes back.”
Brown said both she and Gecer have piles of clothes in their homes waiting for customers who are out of town.
Gecer and other former employees said their direct deposit paychecks from last week — pay for the hours they worked the week before — were suddenly withdrawn from their bank accounts with no warning.
“I woke up to a text from a friend that worked out of the Brighton store to check my bank account,” said Sean Richard, a Zoots home delivery driver for 11 years. “I did, and I wanted to yell.”
Troy Morrison, an attorney for Zoots, said Zoots’ bank accounts were frozen when the company filed bankruptcy on Jan. 18, so the payroll company never got the funds to cover deposits. But he said the payroll company was warned not to reverse the direct deposits.
“That was done without the knowledge of (Zoots),” Morrison said. “We are in the process of looking into what can be done about it.”
David Madoff, the trustee assigned to administer the case, said companies generally try to get their affairs in order before filing for bankruptcy. Madoff said Zoots owed its employees about $85,000 for its last round of checks.
“It would not have been unusual for a company going in to Chapter 7 to have made sure all its employees were paid current before filing,” Madoff said. “Once a bankruptcy is filed, the company can’t send out any money.”
Cory Bilodeau, an attorney for Harpers Payroll Services, declined to comment on the specific case, but said generally deposits are reversed when the company doesn’t receive the funds to cover the payments.
Gecer said, “Not only are we blindsided by them filing Chapter 7, now they’ve taken money from our accounts.”
Zoots filed for bankruptcy saying the company didn’t have the cash to continue operating. Zoots, which has 18 locations across the state, said in court filings it has less than $50,000 in assets and more than $10 million in liabilities.
A hearing will be held today on a motion from Madoff to allow Zoots to operate for about a week to finish cleaning the dirty and half-cleaned clothes it has in its facilities and open each retail location for one day so customers can pick up their belongings.