CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Pixelle Specialty Solutions — better known as the Chillicothe Paper Mill workers received troubling news when the paper mill informed them that severance payments would be delayed by at least a week, if not longer, according to former employee Paul Zickafoose, after the mill closed and ceased operations, leaving more than 800 without work.
“I didn’t even get a paycheck, I got zero dollars and zero cents,” Zickafoose said. “There were a few of us that didn’t get anything at all, they said we were overpaid and it’ll take a few weeks.”
Zickafoose, who worked at the mill since 2022, said he was expecting a lump-sum severance payment along with his final paycheck. However, the funds did not appear in his bank account as promised.
“I’m still looking for a job,” Zickafoose said. “It kind of messes up my unemployment; it was supposed to be a lump sum, so it wouldn’t.”
Zickafoose is among 800 former employees struggling to cover bills and support their families without the anticipated funds.
“How am I supposed to buy my kids’ school clothes and school supplies?” Zickafoose said. “I have truck payment, I got bills to pay, but they don’t know how to do their job. If they had good accounting, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Zickafoose said he requested at least one week’s pay from the company representative who called him, but his request was denied.
“I feel like it’s the final nail in the coffin from Pixelle,” Zickafoose said. “They screwed us over one more time. It’s not bad enough that we lost our job, here’s one thing to go with it. I just want my money. I’d like to cut ties with H.I.G Capital.”