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FiveFingerDiscount.com?
phillippaxton writes: "According to this link, dot-bomb victims are creating their own severance packages, no doubt walking away with the typical office tchotchkes (staplers, tape dispensers, etc.) but also big ticket items such as plush furniture, copiers, high-powered network servers, etc. One anecdote cites someone who lifted $445,549 of equipment, then tried to sell it on eBay as a company liquidating their assets." On the other hand, the fact that it's illegal to stiff your employees out of wages due them, even in a bankruptcy, isn't mentioned in the article...
Having recently gone through a dot bomb, here is the order of payout:
1) Employees get paid first. Period. If the company does not have the cash to cover payroll, they are in big trouble.
2) Creditors get paid second, usually in order of size or importance. This means that the bank gets their money and contractors get their take after the bank.
3) VC's get whatever is left (if anything). They put their money at risk, they knew the risk, and they stood the most to gain.
Now, in some states (I'm in colorado), if the employer does not pay in 15 days or so, you can send them a nice little form letter (available at the colorado department of labor's website) that basically says that if they dont pay in 15 days that they owe you triple.
Now, here is the real kicker: if they still dont pay, you can go after the company and then select officers of the company and the (yes, the ceo himself and usually the head of the board of trustees). Like I mentioned before, they are required to be able to meet payroll, and if they can't, They must lay you off before they run out of money, not after.
Anyway, that is the way it worked in my case. IANAL, but I play one on slashdot.