Just a quick update and summary on how the wage claim conferences have been going – all this based on great comments provided by readers.
Bottom line: the response from the Heller Ehrman Dissolution Committee, at least during Jonathan Hayden’s appearance at a San Jose conference yesterday, has been one of not disputing the claim for accrued vacation and wages. However, the D.C. does dispute the penalties to be levied stating that Heller’s failure to pay the wages was not “willful” as one commenter put it.
The “willful” part is obvious the same tired old game of blaming Bank of America and Citibank for the inability to pay. As one commenter stated, this is a bullshit excuse and can you imagine if you went through life with this attitude? How about telling IRS that you couldn’t pay your taxes this year since there was no money or the bank wouldn’t let you pay?
It is shameful that the D.C. has engaged in a game of “chicken” with its former employees but, as I’ve said before, this seems to be the typical reponse and accepted way of running a business these days. Try to get away with whatever you can, try to screw your employees and willfully disobey laws as they pertain to your employees in the hopes that some, if not all of them will simply throw their hands up and walk away.
Notice to Mr. Hayden, the rest of the D.C. and the other scumbag players in this tragedy like Larrabee, Fram, Haslam and others: we aren’t walking away. That should be obvious by our willingness to talk about this tragedy to the media and to others. It should be obvious by the route some people have taken in various lawsuits. It should be obvious by the mere existence of this forum for the ex-Hellerites. You just don’t get it do you? Or you do and you just don’t care.
I think the DLSE’s FAQs re “inability to pay does not equal not willful” are based on the DLSE’s Enforcement Manual and an Opinion Letter, both of which can be found on DLSE’s website.
My wage claim conference originally scheduled for 12/23 has been rescheduled to sometime in January at the request of Heller’s attorneys. It was granted ex parte by the DC Department of Labor. I was told that it may be “worked out” before then.