To Whom It May Concern-

I, Kate Tunison, am a student (studying English and Political Science) at the University at Buffalo, residing in Buffalo, currently on leave due to financial inability to afford tuition.  I am twenty-two years of age, and have just begun working in a wonderful collection agency.  My reason for contacting you is to mention grievances against my previous place of employment (and, no, I am not a disgruntled terminated employee; I was, quite frankly, shooed away from my employment!). 

My former boss, Mark Seymour, owns and operates the collection agency currently known as MJS Consulting, located in the Wurlitzer building at 908 Niagara Falls Boulevard in Tonawanda, New York.  Their toll-free number is (888) 693-8088. 

On Thursday, 15 October, my boss’ main office computer (from which he does all of his banking and credit/checking transactions) was apparently hacked by a man in Paraguay through his Facebook account.  A former colleague of mine, Thomas Dussault (both a collector and a computer/internet technician) believed that he had solved most of the issues with the computer.  Tom and I were scheduled to work at 8 a.m. the following Friday morning.  However, we were both called around 7:30 a.m. on said Friday by our boss, who was notifying us that we need not come in to work that day, as his bank accounts had now been hacked.  Tom and I were both shocked, but attempted patience and understanding with our boss, as he is generally a very kind man. 

Throughout the weekend following the call, we notified our two other colleagues, Lindsay and Amber Jasper.  We also attempted contacting our boss, but with no answer.  Since the aforementioned Friday morning call, I have not once been able to reach my boss over the phone.  He mentioned that he has tried to text me, when I believed that I had made it clear that I do not have text-messaging on my phone service plan.  The only means through which I have received any returned contact from Mr. Seymour in the past month has been through messaging on Facebook.  Mr. Seymour also stated that he has called me several times, but I would be more than willing to pull my phone call records from my cellular phone provider to evidence proof of no such attempted calls.  I have called both said former place of employment and Mr. Seymour on his personal cell phone, with no answer, excepting one at MJS Consulting the day that I was hired for a new job (inquiring when I may pick up my things from the office).  When I went into the office, I did not speak with Mr. Seymour, as he was in his office, and I was too afraid to make him angry, worrying that I would never receive any compensation whatsoever. 

For three weeks, I (nor my colleagues) have not received back payment from a “closed” company for three weeks as of tomorrow, Friday, 6 November.  The weeks that I have not been paid for range from Monday, 28 September to Thursday, 15 October.  My rate of pay was nine dollars ($9) per hour, plus bonus commission (which I was not able to achieve at this company, due to sub-par accounts).  I was also a Full-Time employee.  While I have plenty of concerns about the company in question (MJS Consulting, formerly Credit Recovery Solutions and/or Credit Recovery Solutions, Incorporated), including “scavenger” or out-of-statute accounts (that I refused to work), my main concern is that I will never receive my compensation for my last three weeks of diligent work. 

My former colleagues and I have exhausted every legal means imaginable to attain our paychecks, to no avail, including contacting the following agencies: The Better Business Bureau; The New York State Board of Labor (at both local and state levels); The Tonawanda Police; The Erie County Chamber of Commerce, et cetera.  From all of these agencies and legislative stations, we have received the following redundant response: “You must file suit in Small Claims Court.”  Each of my former co-workers and I are very intelligent, patient, kind, young, fair debt-collectors.  Not one of us has the financial or temporal resources to retain an attorney for representation.  Furthermore, as somewhat competent in the law, I realize the futility of filing suit for a sum of under $1,000; it could take months, or even years for this issue to ever procure resolution. 

My pitch to you is one from the heart: investigate and expose this company for blatantly breaking labor laws. 

As I acknowledged previously, none of my former colleagues or I can afford to provide ourselves with legal representation to file suit in Small Claims Court (and, again, we can not wait any longer for our paychecks).  In addition, we have gotten no information nor help from any of the organizations that we have contacted. 

We turn to you asking for help in this situation.  Please, with all the energy that we have left, we ask you, investigate and communicate this story to the public of Western New York.  We ask this for two reasons: first, we hope for other workers being aware of this situation, they will know that they must protect their assets in a more secure manner and not blindly trust any employer, and; second, we truly believe that if this issue is exposed to the public, our boss will realize his error and pay us immediately.  We desperately need our compensation to cover (past-due) basic Cost Of Living. 

Sincerely (and with many, many thanks),

-Kathryn E. Tunison
ktunison@buffalo.edu



-Lindsay Jasper
-Amber Jasper
-Thomas Dussault