BROCKTON - For 10 years, Helton Depina worked long, hard hours at the central plant operated by the Zoots dry cleaning chain, located on Industrial Boulevard in Brockton.
But then, without warning, the Zoots management summoned him and around 40 other workers for a meeting on Jan. 18 in the middle of the plant. Zoots ownership filed for bankruptcy, and the plant had to shut down immediately, with items of clothing still on the pressing machines.
"We had to stop that moment, like there, even though we had stuff ready to be pressed," said Depina, 28, who worked as washroom coordinator. "It was still in the machinery, but we just had to go. I was very surprised. We had stuff already in the washer. It's probably still there."
But losing the job abruptly was just the beginning.
Then, Depina looked at his bank statement on Wednesday, finding only $16, after his last check deposit was reversed by the payroll company used by Zoots. On top of that, Depina said he never received his final paycheck on Friday, robbing him of about $625.
"And, mind you I have car insurance, I have car payments, I have rent," said Depina, who lives in Brockton. "I live on my checks. Now that I don't have them, how am I supposed to pay anything? I was pissed. I went straight to the bank. They told me the company that deposited the checks took it back. That's not right. I worked hard for that money."
When Zoots abruptly closed, it not only hung its workers out to dry.
Hundreds of customers from the 18 Zoots stores have been stranded from their clothes, while a bankruptcy court deals with the aftermath of the company's fall from financial grace. According to the court filing, Zoots owes more than $1 million to at least 200 creditors, with assets estimated at just $50,000.
But since the bankruptcy filing, a plan has been ironed out in federal court for the clothing items to be returned.
Jim Marcucci, the former head of store operations for Zoots, said he is working with the Foxboro-based attorney David Madoff, who was assigned to serve as bankruptcy trustee in the case.
Marcucci said they have court approval to open the Zoots stores on Friday, Feb. 2, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to return all remaining garments to the customers.
"It's going to be a one-day opening," Marcucci said.
Customers who can't make it during that time, will likely have to pick up their items fro the Brockton plant at 45 Industrial Drive, Marcucci said.
A team of temporary employees is also being assembled to complete remaining dry cleaning work next week at the Brockton facility, Marcucci said. There are about 1,000 pieces of clothing left at the plant, Marcucci said, including those that will be dry cleaned and charged to the customer, along with bags of clothing that will be returned untouched.
"The only customers that will pay will be the ones whose clothes we process," Marcucci said.
While the customers will get their clothes back next week, Marcucci said he doesn't feel so confident that roughly 180 Zoots employees will get their paychecks back. Since Zoots didn't fund the wages of its employees before filing bankruptcy, it left the Worcester-based Harpers Payroll Services company on the hook, leading the payroll company to reverse funds that were transferred to employees through direct deposit.
"As far as the employees getting their money back, I'd say it's a 20 percent chance," said Marcucci, who worked for Zoots since 2005, while also claiming that the check reversal was "highly illegal."
After receiving numerous complaints from Zoots employees about unpaid wages, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is now looking into the issue and is in contact with Zoots' attorney and the bankruptcy trustee.
Marcucci said he's watched as Zoots went downhill over the years, beginning as a promising chain with a unique 24-hour drop-off and pickup technology system at its chain of stores, which once used network marketing and "guerrilla marketing" to get the word out.
Zoots was started in 1998 by the founder of the office supply store Staples, but then the company collapsed 10 years later. However, it was salvaged by two former mid-level managers who purchased the company, named Rick Simoneau and Trish O’Leary, keeping it from going out of business and saving more than 300 jobs at that point. A combination of factors then led to the company's downfall over the last decade, Marcucci said.
"The recession really hit and really buried us," Marcucci said. "After that we had new ownership. They started using Groupon, which was a huge mistake. They really discount your business in a poor way. Also, people weren't dressing up anymore, more people were working from home and companies adopted more lax dress codes."
Marcucci said he sympathizes for the many Zoots workers, including 70 to 80 who work at the Brockton cleaning plant, where the clothes were dry cleaned and were then sent out for delivery. Marcucci said the company also had a fire restoration division.
"Unfortunately, most of them live paycheck-to-paycheck," Marcucci said. "I had a lot of angry phone calls from employees who had negative bank accounts when they woke up on Wednesday."
Depina, the former Zoots washroom coordinator, who is now applying for unemployment benefits, said his girlfriend also worked at the Brockton plant. Depina said he's been reaching out to law enforcement officials and an unpaid claims lawyer, but he doesn't feel confident that he'll see any of the money he earned working for Zootsin the previous two weeks.
"We're both screwed," Depina said. "I've done everything to get some type of money from them. It looks like I'm not going to get any money from them."
While he's looking for work elsewhere, Depina said he rejected a request to come back to Zoots in Brockton next week for temporary work to fulfill the remaining work that was left incomplete after the bankruptcy shutdown.
"Why would I work there when they still own me two paychecks," Depina said. "It doesn't make any sense."