Yellow employees who were expecting what are likely their final paychecks Thursday will instead receive them Friday, according to a company official.
“Employees who are on a weekly pay schedule and are normally paid on Thursday will be paid on Friday this week, one day late due to the court hearing,” the official told FreightWaves in an emailed statement.
Four truck drivers and dockworkers based around the U.S. told FreightWaves that they had not received their final paychecks, which they expected Thursday. Some former employees of Yellow sounded off on social media and messaging boards Thursday, frustrated that they had not received their final paychecks.
Yellow, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday, laid off most of its staff of about 30,000 employees over the past few weeks. Approximately 23,000 of those workers are represented by the Teamsters, according to its Monday bankruptcy filing. The company ceased regular operations on July 28, as FreightWaves first reported.
Truck driver William Stephens is one of those laid-off employees represented by Teamsters. He worked for the trucking giant for seven years at a Columbus, Ohio, terminal.
When he checked his payroll portal on Tuesday, he was happy to see a final pay stub from Yellow. The payment, according to a document viewed by FreightWaves, was supposed to cover days worked between July 23 and July 29.
However, when Stephens checked his bank account on Thursday, there was no payment from Yellow. And his employee portal access was shut down.
The Yellow company official wrote in a statement that the company is doing “all it can to provide employees with compensation to which they are entitled.” Yellow also pointedly blamed Teamsters leadership for the company’s closure.
“IBT leadership is solely responsible for destroying 30,000 jobs,” the spokesperson said. “Yellow was forced to file for bankruptcy on August 6th as a result of the IBT’s nine month refusal to negotiate the company’s long-planned modernization effort, One Yellow, which included significant pay raises for employees. Sadly, Teamster leaders did not care enough about Yellow’s union employees to discuss their contract until after the IBT had driven away all business and it was too late. Yellow fought until the end to save employees’ jobs. Yellow is working through the bankruptcy process. The timing of this process and legal determinations are not under the company’s control. Yellow will do all it can to provide employees with compensation to which they are entitled.”
Meanwhile, the Teamsters wrote in a statement on Sunday that Yellow “abandoned its entire workforce” with its Chapter 11 filing. The organization noted that it would support members through the bankruptcy proceedings.
“Our members’ loss of work at Yellow was no fault of their own. They should be the first in line for real relief as bankruptcy moves forward,” said John A. Murphy, Teamsters national freight director. “While Yellow’s closure represents one last shameful act by a greedy employer, the Teamsters will never desert our brothers and sisters. We will do everything we can to prioritize our members at Yellow and their families during forthcoming bankruptcy proceedings.”
Yellow nearly filed for bankruptcy several times over the past 15 years. Teamsters estimates that, since 2009, its members have given away more than $5 billion in wage and benefit concessions to support Yellow. Most recently, the trucking company received a $700 million loan from the U.S. Treasury in 2020 to avoid collapse.
For Stephens, the lack of communication has come as yet another disappointment during these last few weeks of Yellow’s shutdown.
“No one ever called me or anyone in Columbus or anything about being laid off,” Stephens said. “We never got a notice in the mail. Nothing. We went to work and saw the gates locked. It’s just disappointing – you would think a big company like that would at least notify you that you don’t have a job anymore.”
A dockworker in Oklahoma City, who asked that her name not be printed as she looks for another job, is also waiting for her last check. She said she learned she was out of a job from a piece of paper taped to a stop sign at her terminal stating company operations had ceased.
Vacation time pay remains in limbo for former Yellow employees
Two laid-off Yellow employees who were not represented by Teamsters told FreightWaves that they did receive their final paychecks last Friday. However, they said they did not receive payment for unused vacation time. Yellow wrote in its separation agreement dated July 28 that laid-off employees would receive payment for unused vacation “[a]s soon as administratively practicable.”
Eight Teamsters members who previously worked at Yellow also said they had not received payment for accrued vacation time. Another truck driver based near Columbus, Ohio, who had worked for Yellow for 19 years said he has about four weeks of unused PTO. Arcadio Gonzlalez, a former Yellow employee based in Wheeling, Illinois, said he has some 130 hours unpaid — roughly equal to more than three weeks of unpaid vacation.
Yellow revealed in a Monday bankruptcy filing that it would seek $92.9 million to pay outstanding PTO. However, it’s immediately asking $8,725,000 to pay wages. It’s unclear how much of those wages will go toward recently laid-off employees or Yellow’s “core group” of around 1,650 remaining employees.
Do you have a story to share about Yellow’s shutdown and bankruptcy? Email rpremack@www.freightwaves.com.
Mike
Out of work employees should by law receive severance pay, money for every year of service
Albert Silver
Another poorly managed company blaming the teamsters for all their financial problems. How many good companies with good paying jobs did Yellow Frt. run out of business dating back to the Jevic and Preston purchases and the list goes on and on from there.You messed with the lives of hard working men and women that needed those jobs to support their families and now you just have thrown them out in the streets without a care.Yellow,you are a shameful company with a shameful past and any management personal, I don’t know how you can sleep at night !!!
Joseph Byrdsong ,
If the union was the cause of this. Why did they agree to let them have 5 billion in concessions not to mention part of that was not paying into the pension as they were supposed to they took 15% of each employees paycheck since 2008 in 2009 to the present this was a loan but that’s not being mentioned. We as Teamsters . Did everything humanly possible to keep this company afloat my terminal manager back, then told us to save your money as he worked for yellow before starting at Roadway 20 years with yellow they they asked him to stick around five more years when they took the helm and he refused and retired. This company was never to be and when they acquired Roadway Roadway had some 3 to 5,000,000,000 in escrow not counting the equipment Roadway owned all terminals and equipment so they didn’t have to purchase much equipment when they took over.
Keith
We’ll have money until December… nope November … nope Oct, Sept, August… nope nope nope. We’ll give you .60 on top of the .40 we already owe you if you sign right now and “IF” we can get the financing. We’ll give you $7.50 over 5 years… you have our word, “we’re negotiating in good faith”.
Just help us extend or hell even pay for our debt to Central States and we’ll get to the table. What happened?!! The Teamsters did in fact get Central States to allow a 30 day extension and then Yellow proceeded to pull back every single word that led up to that moment.
There was never any actual good faith effort by Yellow to work anything out. They needed the additional week so that TEAMSTERS could clear the docks throughout the system. Bankruptcy is more lucrative to the the pigs at the top.
Harassment towards the rank and file was every morning between 8 and 9 am in break Rooms across the country. Morning Rumors with ( Fill in the blank with whatever Terminal Manager you had to deal with ). Pull the ass kissers and the weakest in the bunch into the room and scare the S*** out of them with the “You guys won’t find work like this anywhere else but I’m gonna be ok” speech.
We all knew what they wanted, we all saw it coming and we’ll all find better jobs elsewhere. Good Bye Yellow. We’ll all be ok.
Yellow employee
Teamsters could have agreed so that Yellow could have had financing and stay in business for 5-10 more years, I was never asked about to vote, teamster used Yellow employees as a “War trophy/leverage/power play” to get UPS to agree to their terms.
Les Dymek
Yellow bankruptcy was plan for long time since Yellow bought Roadway. Simple plan to get rid of Union. Greed and unprofessional management of company ,taking money from employee /concession. around 5 blndollars/and put in their own packed as bonuses ,millions and millions of dollars. Finally those arrogant people make joke and now they probably laughs what they did to us ,30000 hard working people ,labor class , beating hearts of this country found themself jobless ,including me. 24 years driven as road driver,18 living like a gipsy on team sleeper truck.And for those 24 years some ;official; called me and told me ;Thank you for good work;They don even paid me my vacation ,3 weeks already approved and processed by payroll. This is like Dramatic Soup Opera ,like nothing real .Now everything in Judge hands. Hope he is real human and will make right decision.
Ray
My name is Ray I work at ROADWAY EXPRESS. I started late 2005. At that time I was unaware yellow bought ROADWAY. A short few years later they being yellow start complaining about money then a merge in the form of a consolidation and turn into YRC. They liquidated ROADWAY change of operations and moved everyone to yellow facility then came back and said To stay afloat we need 15% pay cut/75% of pension funding and lose vacation time PTO. Work longer harder for less. Executives should be held accountable. This is why most employees stayed to help the company instead they got fleeced the employees and they fleece the government. They have a short memory. The audacity to say the employees caused this. Just shows you the greed at the top kept getting paid 7 figures l would like to try being rich and miserable instead of poor and happy. Just for 1 week.
Pete
I was told on the same day of company being closed. I believe the company well knowing of all that was going out left all of its drivers in the dark and were supposed to be a brotherhood yeah right, they did not take into consideration families that depend on this job or health issues medications that the families are going through. They could have given heads up at least 3 months in advanced so the drivers could plan ahead but, no they were selfish and thinking all about themselves and even when you go out your retirement papers in at the local office the people are nasty they have attitude like your taking their money and they supposed to be brothers and sister no empathy what so ever. I’m sure higher up people got their belongings and vacation time and sick time but it is what it is.