Longtime employees of the iconic Penn Dutch Meat & Seafood stores in Hollywood and Margate waited more than two and a half years to find out whether they’d get paid.
When the stores closed permanently amid a listeria contamination scare in September 2019, employees were sent home without their final weeks’ paychecks, without any severance pay, and without their accrued vacation pay.
And so they waited as the owners appointed a liquidation firm to dissolve the company’s remaining assets for the benefit of its creditors. And they waited as two members of Penn Dutch’s founding family sued that liquidation firm in an effort to claim those assets for themselves.
But last week, the liquidation firm’s president, Philip Von Kahle of Fort Lauderdale-based Moecker & Associates, filed a proposal to distribute $46,272 among 46 former employees. That’s how much would remain of Penn Dutch’s cash holdings if the court allows the Moecker firm to recover $173,647 for costs it says it incurred pursuing the dissolution and defending itself against the federal lawsuit by co-owners William and Paul Salsburg.
In December, the parties announced a settlement that paid $187,500 to William and Paul Salsburg, whose company, W&P Holdings Inc., owned the real estate under the Hollywood store.
Shortly after the stores closed, W&P Holdings sold the Hollywood property for $3.7 million to pay off three produce suppliers who claimed in a federal lawsuit that a Depression-era law enacted to protect farmers gave them front-of-the-line status among all creditors, including the right to seize the Penn Dutch owners’ personal assets.
W&P Holdings settled the produce suppliers’ claims, which totaled about $600,000, but not before convincing them to sign over their “super-priority” status. William and Paul Salsburg then used that assignment to assert that their claims took priority over those of all other creditors, including their stiffed employees.
Assuming a judge approves terms of the final distribution proposal filed last Friday in Broward County Circuit Court, the employees will split a fraction of what the Salsburgs recovered. And they’ll get a fraction of what they were owed, which is typical for creditors who get anything at all after a business fails.
Amounts will vary. The company’s former marketing manager will receive $4,486 while five employees listed in the proposal will get less than $200 each. Fourteen employees will receive more than $1,000. The rest will get between $200 and $1,000.
Myra DiBlasio, slated to receive $405, said that’s far less than what the company owed her when it closed — including accrued vacation time and three weeks of full-time work for which she was never paid. DiBlasio, who worked as a cashier and counter clerk, asked, “What happened?” when told how much she’ll likely receive.
Former seafood clerk Peter Jasieniecki, an 11-year employee, will receive $1,482 if the plan is approved. Jasieniecki says he lost three weeks of accrued vacation pay but doesn’t remember how much he lost in wages.
David Eteo stands to collect $968. “That’s great,” said the former employee. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Approval of the plan will mark the end of Penn Dutch’s dissolution and close the book on a colorful family business that served Broward County customers for 45 years beginning in 1975.
The employees at least will recover something. Their claims have priority status over those of a long list of suppliers, including numerous local companies, left off of the proposed distribution list filed by Von Kahle. They include Coral Springs-based Showcase Provisions, Penn Dutch’s Boarshead distributor ($17,640), Deerfield Beach-based Florida Island Snacks (owed $487), Miami-based Medina Baking & Powder Products ($1,562) and North Star Seafood, based in Pompano Beach ($2,992).
Miami Lakes-based attorney Douglas Jeffrey said his client, Miami-based Balter Meat Company, won’t receive any of the $30,000 that Penn Dutch owed the company. “I’m not happy about it at all,” Jeffrey said. “I had a feeling that was going to happen given the size of the employee claims.”
Creditors have until April 1 to file objections to the plan before Circuit Judge Jack Tuter will be asked to finalize it in a hearing in Broward County Circuit Court at 8:45 a.m. on April 13.
Jeffrey said it likely wouldn’t be worthwhile to object. “It is what it is,” he said.
Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at .
