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TRAVERSE
September 27, 2009
Life after Cherry Blossom layoffs
BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY
His reward: The Hubbells stiffed him for four weeks' pay and Vasquez's
bank sued when his Cherry Blossom-issued paycheck bounced.
"There really isn't much to say; I lost my job, I lost my car and I'm
about to lose my home," Vasquez said.
At least 25 people found themselves without work on June 1, when Cherry
Blossom closed its plant in northern
"I'm not the only business to ever close, the only business to put
people in hardship," Chris Hubbell said.
Several former employees disagree and said they're bitter that Hubbell
thrust them into financial chaos with bounced paychecks and empty
promises. They also contend Hubbell improperly diverted money they paid
for health insurance and child support payments, among other deductions.
"If they had been straight-up honest a couple of months ago, at least we
could have been prepared," said Vasquez, who worked as a shift
supervisor. "I've got kids and a wife to take care of."
Repeatedly sued
Creditors repeatedly sued Cherry Blossom and its forerunner,
Williamsburg Receiving and Storage, over the past decade, acts that
prompted Hubbell to reorganize on several occasions to keep his
processing plant afloat.
But Hubbell began to lay off employees last November, and nearly cut his
workforce in half. More trouble arose this year, on May 27, when
employees were due to receive pay for the first two weeks of May.
That was a Wednesday, and Hubbell withheld paychecks until that Friday.
He told employees there'd be enough money in the bank by Monday to cover
them.
Vasquez deposited his paycheck over the weekend. It bounced, and the
bank sued him in small claims court.
"I know people who have written bad checks and they sit in jail for
two-to-three years," Vasquez said. "What I never understood was why I
was going to court over a check (the Hubbells) wrote."
Lisa Chenard worked as the Hubbells' accounting supervisor until March,
when she left for another job. She spent much of her time putting off
creditors and vendors because Cherry Blossom couldn't pay them, but said
the final straw came when Chris Hubbell purchased a late-model
tractor-semi trailer, though the company already owned more trucks than
it could use.
Such business decisions made it easy to leave Cherry Blossom, Chenard
said.
"I really liked Chris and Janet; they had really big hearts. It just
seems they kind of gave up towards the end," Chenard said. "I think they
just quit caring about the employees."
'Don't know where to go'
Aurora and Teodoro Bernal and their five children left
Aurora Bernal's brother is Benito Vasquez Sr., who like his son was a
supervisor at Cherry Blossom. Vasquez offered his
"It was a good deal, and we were going to be four working instead of one
working," Aurora Bernal said.
They had no idea Cherry Blossom was about to go under.
"(Chris Hubbell) never gave us any indication. He didn't want to tell
us," Aurora Bernal said. "If he had given us enough time, we would have
made different plans, tried to save us some money."
Without jobs, they almost became homeless. Chris Hubbell scheduled an
auction for Aug. 27, and included four mobile homes for sale. He stopped
by the Bernals' trailer shortly before the auction and announced they
had 10 days to move.
The Bernals instead contacted Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan,
whose officials told Hubbell he couldn't evict the family without
written notice.
Without the money Hubbell owes them -- about $1,200 -- the Bernals
couldn't afford to make the first month's rent and security deposit
elsewhere. And they couldn't get financial help from area human service
agencies to cover the deposit without an eviction notice.
Aurora Bernal said she had to turn to family members in
"The kids, you know how they are, they ask for things, and it's hard ...
and school is starting," she said. "We weren't rich in
'I don't have that money'
Benito Vasquez Sr. and his wife Linda spent a decade laboring for the
Hubbells. Linda cashed their last paycheck at Wal-Mart, so unlike their
son, they lost two weeks' pay each, almost $3,000 together. But their
daughter had surgery in early May, and they were saddled with $2,000 in
medical bills. The Hubbells canceled their employees' medical insurance
May 1, but didn't tell them, the employees said.
"Janet (Hubbell) knew my daughter was going for surgery and wished me
luck and everything, and we thought we had it paid by insurance," Linda
Vasquez said. "I don't have that money."
And she doesn't know what happened to the $87 the Hubbells withheld from
each May paycheck for health insurance premiums.
Chris Hubbell said Cherry Blossom paid for health insurance a month in
advance, and collected payments from workers during the month of
coverage.
"I don't like what happened and stuff, but I didn't have any choice,"
Hubbell said. "I lost my health insurance, too."
Workers said the bounced May paychecks continued to show a deduction for
health insurance, though it already had been canceled.
Paul Henigan dealt with similar problems. He began work at Cherry
Blossom in April and said the Hubbells garnished more than $1,100 in
child support payments intended for his young son. But money from his
checks never made it to child support coffers, Henigan said.
"They didn't pay any of the child support throughout the whole time I
worked for them," Henigan said. "They stole $1,100 from my son."
Henigan said his son's mother recently told him Cherry Blossom
eventually sent a check for about half of the child support owed. He
doesn't know if they'll see the rest. He's still repaying his bank to
cover the May paycheck from Cherry Blossom that bounced, and he only
recently landed a minimum-wage job.
"Money is kind of hard to come by right now," Henigan said.
Some relief
Cherry Blossom workers lost their jobs three months ago, and most had
given up hope of seeing their back pay. Then a surprise: The U.S.
Department of Labor recently announced it had their wages.
A Cherry Blossom customer, Sensient Flavors LLC, of
"That's just wonderful news. Now we'll be able to move," said Aurora
Bernal. Her husband was hired at Burnette Foods Inc. in Elk Rapids and
she recently took a part-time job as a housekeeper for a hotel.
"It's not much, but it's something, and I was able to buy some clothes
for the kids to start school,"
Burnette Foods also hired Benito Vasquez Sr. and his son, but the elder
Vasquez said he knows of at least nine former co-workers who remain
unemployed.
And his family continues to struggle from the setback.
"We're facing a lot of stuff, facing foreclosure, but we're working with
the banks right now and I hope we can come out of this. I think we
will," he said.
Hard feelings remain, however.
"He (Chris Hubbell) is driving around in his truck like nothing
happened, but you can't cover the sun with your fingers," Vasquez Sr.
said. "It's not that we wish anything bad for him, but when you do bad
things to people, it will catch up to you."
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