DETROIT (WXYZ) — The notices started rolling out on March 5th to employees: Deliver Dental Solutions would close by the end of the week.
Multiple employees with the company reached out to 7 Action News, disturbed by the series of events they say would happen next. First, health benefits were canceled. Then, unemployment claims were denied. And finally, on the day they were expected to get a final paycheck, they received this email instead:
Dear Staff, Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have just learned that our secured lenders have Dear Staff,directed Advantage to freeze all payments due DDS at this time. As a result, DDS is unable to meet its payroll requirements. We are working with our lenders to secure adequate funding but at this time we are unable to provide any additional information. We apologize for the impact that this will have on everyone. Sincerely Tom Rose and Bob Kamphuis
“There are employees that are going to lose their place to live, will not be able to feed their children, will not be able to put gas in their cars. The payroll that we’re missing is contingent on that,” said one employee who wished to not be identified for fear of compromising future employment.
When asked by 7 Action News for any comment regarding the employee’s concerns, DDS co-owner Tom Rose said: “I’ve communicated with them directly and will continue to do so.”
But multiple employees say they’ve been in the dark for awhile, and claim the company has been engaged in financially troublesome behavior for awhile.
“We were watching our paycheck stubs and watching our retirement accounts and not seeing the deposits going in,” said one employee who believes about $2,000 is missing from their 401k. Other employees voiced similar concerns.
Adding insult to injury, employees say another troubling move by the company is costing them unemployment benefits.
Those who applied for unemployment say they were told by the unemployment agency that they were denied because DDS had not reported employee earnings for all of 2018.
DDS employed more than 65 employees which include dental assistants, attending providers, general dentist, front desk staff, administrative staff, and contractual employees for the dental industry in metro Detroit.
Rose declined further comment.
