Payback time for truckers pierced by Arrow carrier

TULSA, Okla. — Eleven months ago we told you about how Arrow Trucking Co., closed up shop in the middle of the night leaving left hundreds of suddenly unemployed drivers stranded across the continent left to find their own way home.

It’s payback time.

This week, according to the Tulsa World newspaper, an Oklahoma court has decided that 572 former Arrow employees will get $2 million in back wages and benefits. They’ll get the money in early December.

The workers are actually owed more — $3.4 million in total — and a trustee representing Arrow Trucking’s bankruptcy estate said there should be a second payout by the end of the year.

Arrow Trucking, the 61-year-old Tulsa-based flatbed carrier, filed for bankruptcy in January.

According to American labor law, companies with more than 100 staff are required to give each employee 60 day’s notice before closing a plant and terminating their employment.

Arrow drivers found out the company was closed one day last December when their fuel cards weren’t honored and nobody back at head office answered the phone. A recorded message told them to turn their trucks in at the nearest dealer.

Under the terms of the judgment this week, the 572 former employees will receive about $3,500 each.