After investigating the closing of Climax Packaging in Lowville, the state Labor Department is suing the company.

That’s according to the United Steelworkers Union.

“They agreed with us. The Steelworkers filed the charges that the company did not compensate people properly for their vacation and holiday pay, both what’s called earned and accrued,” said union representative Jim Ridgeway.

The union says the labor department’s wage and hour division will represent the former employees in a class action lawsuit against Climax.

This comes days after the equipment inside Climax was shipped away and sold in online auctions.

Some of the 158 laid-off workers joined the class action suit after meeting with representatives from the labor department in Lowville.

“They go after the company. If the company claims there’s no money, then they look for adjoining companies. Sometimes, there’s personal liability of officers that comes into it. So it all gets real right now,” said Ridgeway.

A notice of the suit was given to the company within the last week.

The amount of money in the lawsuit hasn’t been disclosed yet, but Ridgeway says it could include more than missing vacation and holiday pay.

“Their initial finding is to assess penalties on top of that, that appear to be 100 percent of what the money was,” said Ridgeway.

The company has 20 days to respond to the notice.

Ridgeway says he expects to hear that response early next month.