HAZLETON, Pa. — Former employees of DBi Services in Hazleton tell Newswatch 16 the workday started as usual last Friday morning.
But a virtual afternoon meeting scheduled for all employees was actually a three-minute video informing them the doors would close permanently at 5 p.m. that day.
"So, needless to say, I was very, very shocked. Basically, there was absolutely no notice whatsoever," an employee said.
We spoke to several employees who chose to stay anonymous about how the events unfolded last Friday. About 150 people worked at the branch in Luzerne County; the company worked to maintain roads and bridges.
"If you were going to end my career on a Friday, you would at least get severance pay for the hard work that all of us have put into the company to keep it running, to the keep the roads safe, to keep each other safe, I never in a million years thought that it would be the way it was done, never."
Employees say they were informed they will receive their final paycheck and their health insurance will be covered through the end of the month, so it has been a weekend of trying to figure out what is next.
"Instantly, I cried, I'm not going to lie. You plan for the holidays coming up; you put money away for this, away for that."
Employees say there have been layoffs since the pandemic.
"It was just very sad, very sad the way they handled it. Relationships started to crumble. You could just feel it going downhill."
But despite that, they never expected things to go down like this.
"Even there, I still felt there was hope, that maybe we could bounce back, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be."
About 2,000 workers were employed by the company nationwide in 45 states and Canada. According to the Facebook group created called DBi – Employees Fighting Back, every branch has closed.
An official statement released Monday says in part "DBi Services deeply regrets the impact on its valued employees, customers, suppliers and partners, and is working diligently to manage as smooth a transition as possible."
You can review the full statement HERE.