Former Silver Airways workers want answers, final paychecks after airline shuts down: 'Everybody's angry'
Former Silver Airways employees waiting to be paid
Days after Silver Airways announced it would cease operations, workers say they still haven’t gotten their last paychecks. FOX 13’s Jordan Bowen reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - It's now been a few days since Silver Airways announced they're ceasing all operations. It came as a shock to employees, including Thomas Durr.
What they're saying:
"I see this email saying that operations are being shut down," Durr said.
Thomas Durr has worked for Silver Airways for 19 years as a supervisor of technical operations. Last Wednesday morning, it came to an abrupt end.
PREVIOUS: Florida-based Silver Airways cancels all flights, tells passengers not to go to airport
"It sounded like it was going good for us and things were moving along and next thing we know, we're done. You know, it's shocking. I was caught off guard. I did not expect that," Durr said.
Durr and his co-workers received this email from the CEO which says in part, "it is with a heavy heart that I share the difficult news that, after months of navigating through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, our journey at Silver Airways is coming to an end for most of us." It goes on to say "I know this is not the outcome any of us wanted and I deeply regret the impact this will have on all of you."
"I just came home kind of in shock and just kind of sat here for a few hours and then started getting online and started looking up trying to find something new, trying to something, you know, trying to find anything aviation or even outside of it to make sure I can support my family," Durr said.
Pictured: Thomas Durr.
Dig deeper:
Durr and his wife Amanda are parents to a 5-year-old and 18-month-old. While he looks for new work, he says he and his co-workers are still waiting for their last paycheck.
"We've had no communication. I've messaged HR, I've reached out, there was nothing. That Friday was our pay period for that previous two weeks and we got half of it. And we already worked almost another half of a pay period before that point. So we worked three weeks and basically we got one week pay," Durr said.
Durr says he wishes the company would have given more of a warning to employees before abruptly closing. He's hoping they will eventually find the money to pay their employees.
"Everybody's angry. Everybody's unsettled by the fact that we did the work, we signed off the aircraft, we kept them safe, but we didn't get the pay that we're supposed to get for doing that," Durr said.
Silver Airways debuted their ATR-42-600s at the Farnborough International Air Show in 2018. (Photo credit: Silver Airways)
The other side:
FOX 13 reached out to Silver Airways to learn more about how they plan to pay their employees for unpaid work and are still waiting to hear back.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jordan Bowen.
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