2TheMart locks out ex-employees TECHNOLOGY: Former workers seeking their paychecks are turned away without answers or money.
ocregister.com
April 26, 2000
By CHRIS FARNSWORTH
The Orange County Register
IRVINE -- A dozen former 2TheMart employees showed up at the e-commerce company's offices in Irvine on Tuesday, hoping to find out why their paychecks bounced. Instead, they found themselves locked out.
2TheMart, which is being absorbed by GoToWorld.com of Orange in a continuing merger, refused to answer the ex-workers' questions or to allow them on the floor of the offices.
2TheMart, which promised to compete with popular auction site eBay, was once worth nearly $600 million on the stock market but tumbled rapidly after a series of setbacks. The company now faces several shareholder lawsuits, and its stock dropped 20 percent to close at $2.88 on Tuesday.
"All the (garbage that GoToWorld.com) was supposed to cut themselves off from, with 2TheMart, is just following them," said John Carter, a former database administrator who said the company owes him more than $32,000.
Officials at 2TheMart did not return calls for comment.
The ex-workers left after about an hour of waiting outside the office tower off Von Karman Avenue. They said they planned to file complaints with the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
By law, the employees should have been paid as soon as they were terminated, said Dean Fryer, spokesman for the state Labor Commissioner. By delaying, the company is liable for wages for each employee for every day it doesn't pay them, Fryer said.
"I would encourage all the employees who have not come forward for wage claims to make a claim," Fryer said, and gave a number for more information: (213) 620-6330.
Mitesh Damiana, 23, a former programmer at 2TheMart whose bank records showed that his last two paychecks from the company bounced, said the experience hasn't soured him on working for a dot-com.
"It doesn't matter if it's an old-economy or a new-economy company," he said. "People still deserve to be paid for their work." |
