I am presuming the employers operate in good faith, that is, they are open with the employees about the situation — it would be hard to keep this a secret given it’s major news.

If your employer said to you, “we are caught up in this, we are working to resolve the situation“ it would be pretty fair and reasonable of them. You can choose to quit if you want, you’re under no obligation to work.

I am all in favour of getting rid of minimum wage laws. However, they are currently in play and I suspect that being open and direct about engaging in an illegal act to deal with a bankrupt bank is exactly the sort of situation that is likely to result in criminal prosecutions for executives if the company goes under.

A sane enoloyer would furlough pending stabilization. Layoffs would destroy the company. Who would work for a company that both can't manage its finances and also can't manage its staffing?