TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. - "We do all this work, all these man hours, all this labor," said Deandre Leonard, venting his frustrations, "and then when it's all said and done, we're not paid."
Thursday is pay day for the more than one hundred current and former workers at Tonawanda Coke. For the past 14 months he's worked there, operating the machinery which moves the coke through the ovens, Leonard says they've never failed to pay him, until he checked his account Thursday morning.
"It's a big deal because some people have kids," explains Leonard, "or you got bills to pay and you can't do it because your job isn't paying you. It's just not right."
Now unemployed, the Buffalo father worries about what his next steps will be. The NYS Department of Labor hosted a job fair Thursday for the former workers.
"Honestly, I'm very frustrated," admits Leonard, "simply for the fact that if I had known this ahead of time, I'd have had more time to look for a job."
The attorney handling Tonawanda Coke's bankruptcy case, Garry Graber with Hodgson Russ LLP, claims the money for payroll is locked up in court motions.
Tonawanda coke filed for bankruptcy on Monday, and in order to pay their former employees Graber says they needed to file a pre-bankruptcy wage motion. But they didn't file it until Wednesday night.
2 On Your Side asked Graber why it hadn't been done earlier, but he claims there were "unforeseen logistical circumstances."
Tonawanda Coke now apparently has to wait for the outcome of a hearing Friday morning to see if a federal judge will grant their motion to pay their former plant workers.
Graber tells 2 On Your Side that he expects the workers will get their money tomorrow.
Tonawanda Coke was supposed to submit their financial statements to the Department of Justice this week, but a source tells 2 On Your Side that didn't happen. The company was granted an extension.
The new due date for all that information is now next week, Wednesday October 24.