An Oregon nursery business shut down before the unpaid wage claims of more than 100 workers could be resolved. The state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries began investigating the nursery in January when the wage-hour claims began, and were piling up through mid-April.

The business — Leo Gentry Wholesale Nursery, which sold trees and shrubs to national retail outlets including Lowe’s and Home Depot — had been struggling since the recession. It had sought bankruptcy protection in 2012, emerged from it in 2013, but now its business operations have been assumed by a court-appointed receiver to liquidate its assets.

Oregon’s Wage Security Fund, which helps pay employees’ final wages when a business closes with insufficient funds, has paid out just over half — $125,000 — of the lost wages to six dozen former employees, but investigators are still processing claims from 50 people. An Oregon labor official said that so far, investigators have determined  that former employees are owed $239,400 collectively.

Read the whole story on OregonLive.com.