Metters business closes; employees say they weren't paid

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Workers at a manufacturing company told Eyewitness News that they haven’t been paid in more than a month.

The employees work at Metters Industries Inc. in Orlando.

"If we could get paid, the back pay we are owed, it would be a huge help to a lot of people," former employee Laurie Wallace told Channel 9's Ty Russell.

Metters Industries Inc. did contract work for the military, like building simulators, according to its website.

Wallace said she worked as a receptionist for a year and a half until Metters shut down last month. Wallace said she’s still waiting to get paid.

“I know I'm out over $1,000. As you go up the ladder, we are talking thousands if you are upper management,” Wallace said.

Wallace was one of about 80 people who said they were blindsided by the closure just before the holidays began.

"It's a bad time of year when you're working. It's a worse time of year when your salary has been cut off unexpectedly and you probably didn't plan for it,” Wallace said.

Employees said they were notified by email that Metters had closed.

“We just don't know what to do. None of us have been in this situation,” Wallace said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor told Eyewitness News that it’s investigating after the company failed to pay employees Oct. 15 and 25.

It's still unclear what consequences the company could face, if any. But if any violations are found, workers may still need to sue the company to get all of their money, since federal law only guarantees minimum wage and overtime pay.

Workers said they've been having trouble filing for unemployment.

Eyewitness News reached out to Metters, which is headquartered in Virginia for comment, but we did not hear back.

Cox Media Group