The situation at West Coast Linen, the closed-down industrial laundry operation in town on Murray Avenue, should cause more than curiosity from a number of government agencies.

For starters, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office in concert with the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement office in San Jose should look into charges from numerous employees who say they were not paid for weeks and weeks of work.

Simultaneously, the Immigration and Naturalization Service should look into the firm's hiring practices. Employees allege that as the parent company ship - Sausalito-based Lohrey Enterprises Inc. - rapidly swam into bankruptcy company officials threatened employees telling them to keep quiet and keep working lest they be turned into the INS.

2. It really becomes a question of how low a company can go

Well, at least that erases any doubt about culpability. If true, the company clearly knew that a number of employees were illegal. How low can a company go? Hire employees, some of whom are clearly illegal, don't pay them, then threaten them with deportation if they speak up. Unbelievable.

There's simply no defending that type of abhorrent behavior. It's predatory, taking full advantage of the most marginalized in our society - those people who are in no position to defend themselves.

3. If egregious exploitation like this is tolerated, then what's next?

It would be an easy path, of course, to simply let this go ... the economy's bad, the company's in bankruptcy, nobody wants any trouble, etc. But the people who are running the company should be held accountable for paying employees, for the hiring practices and for making sure that workers are not threatened.

If egregious exploitation like this is allowed without consequences, then what's next?

Said one employee: " ... we were sent home and we were told they would call us when the water was back on ... What we want is for them to stop lying and for them to pay what they owe us for hours we've worked already," an employee said.

That's a more than reasonable expectation from any employee.