ROSELAND - A text message is how the majority of employees at Smitty's found out they no longer had jobs.

"Just a FYI as of friday the 22nd everyone has been laid off," the message sent Monday evening read. 

The former employee who shared it with us says it came from her supervisor.

"I got four kids. I have rent. I have expenses I have to pay for, everything. Diapers are not cheap. I was living paycheck to paycheck," she told us. She asked us not to use her name. 

The two-year employee says not only does she no longer have a job, she also doesn't have a car, since it's currently in the parking lot of the torched facility.

"My car still on Smitty's property. They're not even letting nobody whose car got lost... They're not communicating, nothing."

According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission as of Monday afternoon, it helped 80 former employees with unemployment claims. 

In an email from Smitty's human resources department obtained by the Investigative Unit, it says "almost all employees are being laid off."

The email, sent out Tuesday afternoon, also says the layoffs are permanent, but that employees will be paid for any unused vacation time. Health insurance will be available for a limited time. There is no severance package. 

Most of the employees who have applied for unemployment that we've spoken to have been offered the maximum weekly benefit of $275 for 13 weeks.

We reached out to Smitty's for any information about employee's cars that are still on the premises, and were referred to the statement they sent out this afternoon, which doesn't mention anything about employee's cars.