This doesn't surprise me. These poor folks are finding out what my wife knew about Erickson years ago: when you're gone, don't let that door hit you in the fanny as you depart.

OTOH, I agree with you, Jay, about the former employees who continue to show loyalty to John Erickson. I can't see what this company has ever done to inspire loyalty among these newly-dispossessed.

This is absolutely dreadful! DO blame John Erickson! He doesn't walk the talk when it comes to employees... there is this thing called the Erickson Way Values that everyone who drinks the Erickson kool-aid must live by but the Erickson organization who claims to care about people, obviously doesn't care about these people. Its awful...

I went on an interview with Erickson a few years ago. I was so disappointed about not getting the job. After their office in Linthicum closed and after reading this story, now I am thanking Jesus that I didn't get that job.

"Thank You" for writing this article. It is nice when the truth is exposed!! Maybe the next article can be on the ERC rummored multi-millon dollar golden parachute John Erickson received or the payout of multi-millons his children received in 2008.

As one of the ERC laid off folks, the company talks a good game up front, but just sits and waits for the dust to be swept under the carpet since this is "old news" at this point. Once again, THANKS for bringing it back to light. The communities and investors in Baltimore need to know the truth and we still need jobs after all these months...

Everything in the press to date regarding Erickson has been positive. And no one has stood up for the former employees who kept their end of the bargain and honored their severance contracts to work and complete projects which earned the company millions of dollars...until now with Jay Hancock's article. Employees were assured that their severance was fully funded and safe. Former employees had less than 24 hours notice that their severance paychecks were to be stopped...and because the state had letters from Erickson stating these former employees were receiving severance, they were not eligible for unemployment. So, no severance and no unemployment money. It took weeks for Erickson's HR department to contact the state and allow unemployment monies to be paid. Former employees never spoke out publically in any manner other than professional and positive regarding Erickson, but it became apparent quickly that the company's was not going to honor its contracts with its former employees.

My spouse is one of the people you wrote about in today's excellent article.He was an employee for over 15years.He was always so proud of ERC and was a company man all the way. The sudden bankruptcy filing and subsequent stop of severance has greatly impacted our lives. We had to cash out our 401K and will still be in dire straights in the near future. I hate to reflect on how many nights he wasn't at home with his family, he was out traveling for ERC. He dedicated his life to ERC and signed an agreement to "do the right thing" and help them close out and reorganize.I can only imagine what would have happened if he would have been the one to break the legal agreement. Then with one phone call we are shut out and all those years of dedication, talk of "The Erickson Way", doing the right thing are all a joke. It is really a shame. Alot of good people who dedicated their lives to ERC have been ruined and I venture to guess there are a few more who will be in the near future.

Severance agreements are almost always wiped out in a bankruptcy process, and companies only submit motions to pay severance as a PR stunt. At $800/hour the lawyers should be smart enough to file followup claims, but let's be realistic, the outcome wouldn't change. Yes the company would have less PR issues and yes the creditors would be a little more angry, but it wouldn't help the former employees, other than to make them feel more appreciated.

Well some companies do pay out severances even in bankruptcy. What makes this one so bad is that Erickson told people when they were being laid off and if they stayed to that date they would pay them their severance and earned time off (PTO). Most stayed to the very end and got no severance, no PTO which is EARNED and because they screwed up with the state, no unemployment.

All this while according to filed documents on the bankruptcy site, executives, including John Erickson got paid extra money on the pay period of October 9, and an extra check on October 15 (4 days before they filed bankruptcy) yet they couldn't take care of their own employees who stayed to that date!!! That's what really hurts. I remember John Erickson speaking at one of his communities and saying" there is no greater gift then to help others". I guess he meant everyone but employees.

My husband worked for Erickson Construction for 20 yrs.. he also stayed and signed the severance agreement. He had nothing bad to say about Erickson and honestly loved the company. However, after ERC decided to not hold up their part of the bargain, nor care what happened to the individuals that stayed on to complete buildings, they have left a sour taste in his mouth. To read what they are paying to the attorneys and fees for restaurant expenses.. how about people who are struggling to put food on the table.. while waiting since October to see if serverance/gpp would come through..We are slowly dwindling our savings account and may have to dip in our 401K just to survive. There aren't any jobs out there, as he has been pounding the pavement since September. And to read they aren't even worried about us? Wow.. it truly changes our feelings on ERC.

Thanks for bringing this to the public's attention, as it has never left the forefront of our minds.

I would like to know if top management got their GPP money when they left before the bankrupcy? If so, then most of the other mangement positions should have been paid out. Not selectivly! I'm sure the Ericksons still have their penthouse, yacht and monies put away to come back after this mess. Erickson's you had a good vision, but greed got the best of you!

As a Charlestown resident, I thank everyone for the great job they did putting this place together. Trouble is John Erickson has stacked his so called independent boards of directors with his cronies and took plenty of money out for himself and his family. His greedy expansion plans got far ahead of his abilities and all these people have been shafted. We will have to watch out for our community very closely . The new investor is just that, an investor and has nothing invested other than cash so he can bail out at the first sign of trouble. Hopefully we will not fall for all the hype again.

It is amazing how many times something like this happens. Employees do what they are supposed to do for years feeling that they have protection and some benefits, then nothing. That hurts.

I think it would be appropriate to point out that the same thing happened to employees at The Sun. It is very common for the bankruptcy courts to approve bonuses or merit increases for existing ee's while denying a claim for severance. That doesn't make it right - just reality. Did Tribune fight harder for its terminated employees than Erickson?

I am glad to see that a Charlestown resident understands that a company that goes back on its word to a former employee has reason to distrust that the company will keep its word & promises to the residents. All you see in the news is Erickson touting how they are taking care of the residents. Rest assured, if it comes down to the Ericksons and their family members(who all are on the payroll) keeping their money or the residents keeping theirs, the Ericksons will pick up and run. The Ericksons own a multi-million $ house on the Servern River and another multi-million $ house in Palm Beach, a $2 million yacht...and lots more in between.

I worked for Erickson for more than 10 years. When i was laid off, I wanted to believe that they would do the right thing and hold up to their end of the deal , and pay me, along with about 90+others, their severance and PTO. Getting a call at exactly 3pm, the day before I would have gotten a pay, to tell me that the severance had been stopped because "the lawyers made a mistake', was devestating. All of my bills that I put into the mail to be paid bounced, and i am still in arrears with my bank. To add insult to injury, those that are still gainfully employed at Erickson received checks on the 9th and 15th of the month...knowing that they cut off the severance. How can anyone, in good conscience do that? But, john Erickson makes sure that his children faithfully receive their quarterly checks for 12,500.00. He also made sure that the powers that be received payouts; and they are the ones in posistions that helped run the company into the ground. There is no such thing as the Erickson Way, and what started off to be a powerful vision has now turned into greed.
John, if this is how you want your named remembered, keep doing what you do...and that is cheating honest hardworking people.
Thank you John for ruining my life.

Thank you, Jay, for your excellent article in bringing our cause to light. How tragic and unjust that someone like Bill invests years of his life in bettering the retirement of others and then finds his own retirement taken away.
As mentioned, many of us still extend good will to Erickson and are hoping our friends and colleagues succeed again in the mission we were so devoted to. Our friends at Erickson still can't believe how badly we've been treated. With each passing day, our hardships increase, our hopes erode, and I believe the morale of the current employees and confidence of the residents will suffer as well.

There is truely only ONE who is worth our complete faith and trust. HE will never let you down. Kingdoms will pass away, but HIS word abides forever. Put your treasure where neither moth nor rust can destroy.

These words are as true today as they ever were.

Thanks so much for this article. Those of us who have been laid off by Erickson have been waiting for this information to be made public and hope you can use your contacts to bring even more attention to this.I bet Erickson is hoping the blizzard coverage will push this article under the rug so the issue can continue to be ignored.

After 15 years, I was laid off. Regarding my severance, I too received a phone call saying "the lawyers made a mistake, but hang tight..." Well, It took 5 weeks and many calls to Erickson and the unemployment office to straighten out that I was NOT receiving severance and SHOULD be eligible for unemployement.

Like a previous post said, former employees had less than 24 hours notice that their severance paychecks were to be stopped...and because the state had letters from Erickson stating these former employees were receiving severance, they were not eligible for unemployment. So, no severance and no unemployment money. It took weeks for Erickson's HR department to contact the state and allow unemployment monies to be paid!

Such a disappointing ending from a company I was with for so many years!

To John & Nancy Erickson:

I imagine this is all very upsetting to you personally; it should because it is killing me and I left years ago. You know these people- they were like family. You know it was on the backs of these people who write here that you built the best senior care model and enjoyed the fruits of their success. You can't find the magic wand to fix this- there isn't one. Other firms would not act any different in this circumstance but Erickson has NEVER been one of those.

It takes courage and conviction to make this right for those who now feel cheated (they were) and need your help.

I ask you both here to step out of the process and create a solution to help them immediately. Whether quietly or in the light of day- just do something directly and hope the effort will be repaid in some measure here. It will certainly let you all sleep better; I will. Thank you.

I just got the pleading that the lawyers sent in 2/16/2010 breaking down the recovery and how much they wanted to go to where.. guess what. .unsecured claims (that would be us) got a big fat 0%.. they aren't even asking the courts to consider paying us..

Are you shocked.. ?

Want to hear horrible... A friend of mine who works for Erickson told me that its rumoured internally that in the week leading up to the bankruptcy filing, all the corporate execs took large bonuses for themselves... sounds like a company who really cares about the people they employ or not... but in reality, these days what company really values its employees as much as they claim to?

No severance, no stock, unemployment extension a big fat 0.. so now onto watching my savings and 401K twindle..

This has really sucked!

Chuck Echeese,
It's not a rumor. You can see the detail of the additional compensation paid to selected employees on 10/15 in the bankruptcy filing. ERC filed for bankruptcy protection on 10/17.

Anyone else get the email from Erickson to call at 2 today about the severance?

Wonder what they are going to say..? I will report back after 2..

the call was a couple hours (I wasn't in on it for its my husband).. and basically ERC will pay what the is mandatory to pay.. if you are owed more than $10,950.. then you will on get $10,950.. if you are owed less. you will get less..
they doubt the court will rule for unsecured claiments and they said we probably will get no more.. nor will we get the GPP (stocks).. court next week.

As I had said prior to this.. I got the documents and they didn't even request anything for unsecured claimants.. how could the judge rule if its not even in the papers?

check your 401K.. even if you never got a letter saying anything about it.. they have put a freeze on your assets.. you can't touch it.. you cant take it out..

On the phone with IRS and they can't even answer the questions.. are referring my question to a tax lawyer..

Guess Erickson didn't bend us over enough.. have to continue on.. and on.

I worked there for three years. All things considered, it wasn't the worst job I ever had, but they did take advantage of me.

One year, I was denied a promotion because I "needed to talk more".

I later moved from the corporate office to another position in a new community just being built. I had experience within the compnay to offer to help start up operations. Yet, getting them to cover my relocation was like pulling teeth out of a horse. I only got $1000, and it was a fight to get that. I had just gotten my master's degree too, and asked them to consider that and give me a raise. They gave me an extra $1800/year. A corporate recruiter told me even with that I was being underpaid by $7000.

I remember passing John Erickson one time on the stairs. I said "Hello", and he rolled his eyes! I also remeber one time in a all staff meeting when he talked and someone's cell phone rang. He made the comment outloud that that person just got on his badside (I forget exactly what was said, but that was the gist of it).

There were a lot of inflated egos running around that place, and John Erickson was one of them. The impression I got of him while I worked there was that he was quite full of himself, and if you were a 20-something female he was generally more polite.

I've now heard that they are looking to cut back/eliminate medical staff on campus. Can anyone confirm?

I found their names in court papers and called them up. Most were hesitant about talking on the record. And most of them still have great things to say about Erickson.

Jay,

I had the impression that you were kinder to the Erickson family when you first announced the Erickson bankruptcy, but here the opposite is clear: this is an indictment not solely for Erickson, but for any company that is driven into the ground looking for bankruptcy and new management to bail it out. Always, the diligent workers are hit heaviest in this process.

This is an example of another company destroyed by greed, mismanagement, and a growth campaign that was too aggressive. It took them 20 years to get the handful of communites they had when I started with them in 2000. Before I left in 2003, suddenly John Erickson wanted a dozen or more communites opened within several years, and this was in a post-911 economy. Mr. Erickson also put his sons in high ranking executive positions, and at least one of those I can verify had no experience. As I alluded to in a previous review, Mr. Erickson was arrogant, and success had gone to his head. I am really not surprised the company went under. When I left, I knew it was only a matter of time. I'm glad they encouraged me to leave by underpaying me and taking advantage of me so I wasn't in competition with my former co-workers scrambling to find other jobs that didn't exist. Better yet, within six years of leaving there I doubled my salary.

Something else that I need to point out too: These people all need Erickson's reference to find new jobs. Why do you think most of these guys won't go on the record and continue to speak highly of Erickson?

Wow! Some people were really duped. Being asked to work and get paid later in a company that had negative equity?.....I think I'd be running for the door without having anything else lined up. I wouldn't be giving free labor to anyone. John Erickson did not care about you. He was running a business and only cared about himself. Erickson filed bankruptcy to prep the company for sale to his friend so he wouldn't have to assume the debts (one being payroll). He clearly planned to do this before promising anything to the remaining employees.