Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 9, 1993 TAG: 9304090080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER and JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CONTRACTOR LEAVES TOWN OWING WORKERS
Something didn't add up for Paul Mikulek when two of his paychecks bounced.He had worked with Boeck Telecommunications Inc. for about three months and everything seemed fine until "the end of February, I noticed our paydays getting erratic," he said.
Mikulek said 12 to 15 laborers had been getting paid every week by the cable contractor, who was working for Cox Cable.
"They made good on the bounced checks, but on this last occasion we came in to work Friday, the 19th of March, and they said, `Sorry guys, we can't pay you.' On Monday they said, `We have no work because Cox isn't paying us.' That's when we first saw them packing up the trucks," Mikulek said.
Boeck Telecommunications - apparently based in Montana - owes its laborers two weeks' pay, said Mikulek, who was hired by the company in November.
Mikulek, a Roanoke resident for four years, said he took out a debt warrant against the company's owner, Ed Boeck Jr.
"They closed up shop right from under our noses," Mikulek said. "My opinion is that they lied to us."
Phil Ahlschlager, acting general manager at Cox Cable, said Boeck had a contractual agreement that began late last year to install cable TV lines.
"He was in breach of the contract and it was terminated [in mid-March] on that basis," Ahlschlager said. He would not comment further.
Mikulek, who is married with a 2-year-old son, got the job after answering a newspaper ad offering "long-term work with benefits."
Although he had no experience with cable companies, Boeck hired him and he learned on the job, Mikulek said. The work involved connecting cable lines to homes, he said.
Roanoke Commissioner of Revenue Jerome Howard said his office was unaware that Boeck Telecommunications was operating in the city.
City officials said they understood that Boeck Telecommunications began work late last year, but never obtained a required business license.
Howard said the city will try to collect taxes that are owed. He said he will try to obtain the company's records to determine the amount.
If the company refuses to provide the information, he said, the city can initiate court action to obtain its records.
James Williams, chief deputy commissioner of revenue, said the tax assessment will be turned over to the city treasurer for collection after the amount is determined.
Treasurer Gordon Peter said he would try to collect the money, but that might be difficult if company officials have left the city.
Officials of Boeck Telecommunications could not be reached for comment Thursday. The phone number for the company has been disconnected, and the telephone listing for Ed Boeck Jr. was not in service.
Roanoke native Mike Martin said the company owes him $400.
"We were never given any notice that the company was folding or anything," he said.
Martin, a single father with two young sons, is drawing unemployment benefits but hopes to get a job with another cable contractor. He has applied to work with Cox Cable, he said.
Martin said he has worked with cable contractors across the country for 13 years.
This isn't the first time a company has reneged on his pay. He lost $500 with a company in Florida, he said.
"Most of them will pay you," he said. "But you get these fly-by-nights . . . who've got a little bit of money and trucks and calls himself a contractor.
"You work all week and you expect to be paid," Martin said.
"I went out that week we had all that snow. . . . He [Beock] knew he wasn't gonna pay us."