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Judge approves distribution of $1.97 million to former Arrow employees

TULSA, Okla. — A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the distribution of $1.97 million in Arrow Trucking bankruptcy estate assets to the 564 former employees who filed wage and employment law violation claims against the estate.

Arrow bankruptcy trustee Patrick J. Malloy III sought the order to approve the interim distribution last month, and it was approved late Wednesday by Judge Dana L. Rasure of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa, the Tulsa World reported.

"We are signing the checks (now)," Malloy told the newspaper Thursday, and "we will mail out a bunch today. They should all be out of here Friday."

If, as expected, most former Arrow employees receive their checks by early next week, it will be nearly 51 weeks to the day — Dec. 22 — since Arrow shut down its operations.

Arrow, a 61-year-old Tulsa flatbed carrier, filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tulsa on Jan. 8.

Malloy estimates Arrow's assets at $8.55 million and liabilities at $98.97 million.

The employee claims against the bankruptcy estate include back wages and claims arising from Arrow's violation of the federal WARN Act.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires companies employing more than 100 people to give each employee at least 60 days' written notice of a plant closing and the termination of their employment.

Failure to provide the notice can make employers liable for 60 days of wages per employee, the law says.

Malloy is distributing $1,972,806, or 58.7 percent, of the $3,359,304 in priority wage and WARN Act claims filed against the estate.

Former employees receiving checks will get about two-thirds of their wage and WARN Act claims, Malloy told the newspaper.

The trustee is holding back about $1.5 million in bankruptcy estate assets to cover future claims that could be filed in the case, he said.

"There will be more (distributions to former employees)," Malloy said. "This won't be the only one. We still have claims (against Arrow insiders and other entities) we're pursuing that I feel very good about."

Of the employees to whom checks are being distributed, more than 60 are entitled to the maximum $10,950 allowed in priority wage claims for unpaid wages plus WARN Act damages, Malloy has found.

The 60-plus former employees will receive $6,431.68 — two-thirds of their claims —  in the initial distribution, court documents show.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected] .

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