Layoffs Begin At SemGroup

The Tulsa-based oil company, SemGroup, filed for bankruptcy last month after claiming it was $2 billion in debt. Las week, a bankruptcy judge in Delaware approved a $150 million loan to keep the doors open. On Monday morning dozens of Tulsa employees arrived to work only to find pink slips.

News On 6's Jeffrey Smith reports one in every four SemGroup employees in Tulsa has now been let go. Nationwide, 250 employees lost their jobs. 110 Tulsa workers were laid off from a total workforce of 400.

The layoffs affected everyone from clerical to management. Everyone who was let go worked at the company fulltime.

Employees tell The News On 6, people were let go after working at the company for more than a decade. When a crew with The News On Six arrived to the parking lot early Monday morning, cars were pulled up to the front curb.

Employees hurriedly packed boxes into their trunk. It appears the employees had no clue they were being laid off. You could see them wiping their eyes and hugging their co-workers goodbye one last time.

The News On 6 spoke with some of the people in the parking lot. They refused to go on-camera, but when talking to a New On 6 crew, they were very emotional and choked up.

Employees said they were specifically told not to talk to the media.

They also said, "Look, we've been following the news. We thought layoffs might happen."

But, not like this. A big wave of pink slips was difficult news to accept.

And there's more bad news for the laid-off workers. That's because they might not get any severance pay whatsoever. Because SemGroup is a bankrupt company that is operating with an emergency loan from a federal bankruptcy court, they can't approve severance packages unless the bankruptcy court says so.

It will basically be up to a judge in Delaware to decide how much, if any, severance pay these employees get. That hearing is scheduled for next Monday.

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