The remaining Toys "R" Us stores are closing for good

While the last Toys "R" Us store is ready for final shutdown this week, workers, including company store managers for decades, have decried their situation. They say that they should not be left empty handed .

The campaign for layoffs continued until the end, with employees expressing their views in different ways while working the last quarters in 700 stores According to lawyers, 33,000 workers Toys "R" Us should be entitled to a severance pay of $ 75 million to help pay the bills while they are looking for another job.

After declaring bankruptcy in September, the authorization of a bankruptcy court to start closing its 735 US stores, severance pay being suspended during liquidation. A few days before the bankruptcy, Toys "R" Us executives had millions of bonuses, a scenario that was not suitable for grassroots workers.

When the retailer eliminated jobs in the past, severance pay was still paid store manager Tracy Forbes told CBS MoneyWatch in May. Forbes, who started with the company in 1987, said she would continue to work until her store in Phoenix, Arizona, shut down for good this week.

"Every Toys" R "Us leaves with zero, and Bain Capital shares with $ 475 million in profits," said Forbes, citing a Bloomberg report that private-equity owners – KKR (KKR), Bath Capital and Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) – had received more than $ 470 million in fees and interest payments from Toys "R" Us in recent years.

The Center for Popular Democracy and the United Organization for Respect and Exchange Documents noting that Toys "R" Us paid $ 91 million in severance pay between 2008 and 2016 while that it was run by private equity firms, which took over the retailer in 2005.

forced to liquidate the US business, we were not able to follow the normal starting process, "said a spokeswoman for Toys" R "Us earlier this month. "Instead of this payment, we were able to give at least 60 days' notice to help employees begin their transition." At the same time, KKR declined to comment, while the other two financial companies did not respond to requests for comment.