Workers Left Stranded After Corona Bankruptcy: Unpaid Settlements and Unjust Tax Withholdings

Original article: Trabajadores a la deriva tras quiebra de Corona

Workers report unpaid settlements and unjust tax withholdings as the holding company attempts to liquidate million-dollar assets.

Following the closure of the Corona retail chain in 2025, a group of IT professionals has taken legal actions after being forced to accept their severance payments in installments, which stopped being paid in September.

Through the court system, they aim to uncover what happened to the money the company withheld from their salaries for taxes but never submitted, leaving the fate of those funds, which rightfully belong to the workers, uncertain.

Broken Promises and Debts

The Schupper family’s holding company, through its IT Services for Commerce division (CORSYSTEM), laid off its entire IT team, promising staggered payments that are now overdue, leaving 38 former employees in a state of uncertainty.

According to their attorney, Matías Berríos, the situation is dire: «We filed the complaint because we are certain the second-category tax was not paid. We know that those amounts were indeed withheld by the company,» he stated.

The affected workers, some with over 36 years of service at the company, report being met with a «slammed door» from the legal representatives. They assert that «no payments have been made since September. We receive no explanation and are met with complete silence in response to our emails,» they claim.

The Wall of Silence

The lawyer indicated that despite the Schupper family’s wealth exceeding $80 million, former Corona employees narrate months of distress without income. They accuse the company of having taken salary cuts during the pandemic that were never compensated, ultimately stripping them of their basic rights after decades of service.

In light of this, the attorney asserts that «the treatment of the workers is outrageous; they have gone over five months without receiving any payment.» He emphasizes that the same executives who are now unresponsive, like Ximena Buhler and Matías Jarpa, were the ones who signed the severance agreements committing funds that the company now appears unwilling to pay.

Judicial Maze

The defense for the former IT workers has filed three lawsuits: for non-payment of severance, wrongful dismissal, and economic unity. The latter is crucial as it seeks to hold all companies within the holding accountable for the labor debts, given the interdependence in the operation of the chain.

In the meantime, efforts to sell a distribution center valued at $20 million have stalled. According to Berríos, large companies like Canon and Grupo Patio have refused to negotiate out of fear of judicial liens against the firm. For the affected workers, this represents the only way to pressure a family clan that, they claim, has turned their back on them.