(COLORADO SPRINGS) — More than 100 people are jobless after CUSI Construction, a general contracting company, in Colorado Springs, abruptly shut down and laid them off. On top of that, employees say the company still has not paid them for their final weeks of work,
The layoff happened at the end of June. On Friday, June, 23, the CEO of CUSI Construction, notified his employees in an email that they wouldn’t be able to pay them anymore because the company was short on cash.
“I could not believe that a company that was still actively hiring was laying us all off. They didn’t give anyone a warning,” said Christie Mann, the former CUSI account receivable coordinator.
The abrupt layoff left employees, some hired within the past four weeks of the shutdown, now scrambling to sort out their livelihoods and get new jobs.
“Other employees I’ve talked to had to reach out to their mortgage companies and make arrangements over the course of the next six months so that they don’t lose their homes… We had an employee that just had his first baby, and he has no job,” said Malisa Smith, the former director of construction at CUSI.
It has now been two weeks since the layoff announcement and employees say CUSI still hasn’t paid them for their final weeks of work. Under Colorado law, it’s considered a felony when the unpaid wages are greater than $2,000.
Former employees say the wages that people are owed range from $5,000 to $15,000.
The scope of the number of people affected goes beyond the employees. The company would hire subcontractors to work on projects for their clients. That included independent companies and small businesses, like Cody Meyer’s painting company Celestial Coatings LLC.
Meyer said the contract he was hired for was supposed to be a payout of $144,000 for 20 locations. The work his company had completed at the time of the shutdown totaled $36,000.
“And they never paid me a penny on any of it. So I had to owe my guys the labor of the vendors for the materials,” said Meyer.
Meyer is now stuck paying out of pocket for the job CUSI was supposed to be funding.
“I’ve dug deep into my personal savings account, which has taken years to build, to take care of these people… I’m on the fence about whether my business will survive after this,” said Meyer.
The clients are now left with unfinished jobs. One of the locations Meyers was contracted to renovate was Manitou City Hall, which he now feels morally obligated to finish.
“Because they have an inoperable government building, and we can’t just leave it like that,” said Meyers.
Employees say CUSI worked with over one hundred local subcontractors.
“We tried to reach out and get answers from these guys, and there has been nothing, no answer, no phone call, no email, no reply, nothing. complete radio silence” said Meyer.
FOX21 reached out to the CEO of CUSI Construction for a comment, to which they have yet to respond.
