PROVIDENCE –– Former employees of The Colibri Group, the famed East Providence jewelry maker that abruptly shut down last month, crowded into a Providence courtroom yesterday to demand additional pay and medical insurance.

Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein is overseeing the sale of Colibri’s assets to pay back its lenders, including HSBC Bank and Sovereign Bank, each owed about $14 million.

But former Colibri workers say that the company, which closed its doors without notifying its staff, should first pay former employees for 60 days of work and two months of medical coverage they say has been wrongly withheld.

The former workers say Colibri violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, known as the WARN Act, which requires companies with at least 100 employees to provide a minimum of 60 days’ notice before closing a plant.

Hundreds of employees have filed claims with the court-appointed receiver, Allan M. Shine. In all 280 employees lost their jobs when the company closed.

“They threw us on the street like animals,” Emilio Blanco, 45, a stone setter and engraver, said yesterday. “It was a very hard day.”

Colibri merchandise –– including upscale cigarette lighters, cigar cutters, cuff links, money clips, bracelets and clocks –– will be auctioned at 11 a.m. on March 19 at the company’s former headquarters in East Providence. The company owned or was licensed to manufacture and sell well-known brands such as Krementz and Seth Thomas.

Trademarks, patents and copyrights may be included in the auction, according to Shine. Colibri’s machinery and equipment may also be sold at the same time. “We’re doing our best to sell the assets for as much as we can to get as much as we can for the creditors,” he said.

Still, it is not clear that the sale will generate enough revenue to pay back the principle lenders, let alone leave money to meet the demands of former workers.

“Down the road are our folks,” Marc Gursky, an attorney representing the workers, said. “In the receivership, there may not be enough assets to even get to those claims.”

In a parallel attempt to access Colibri’s assets, Gursky said he is preparing a federal lawsuit against the company’s former owners, New York-based Founders Private Equity SBIC, alleging a violation of the WARN Act.

For now, however, the former workers are trying to jump the traditional bankruptcy queue to receive money before the secured lenders.

Yesterday, workers filled the gallery of a fourth-floor courtroom and several sat on the swivel chairs in the jury box, one holding a placard.

During the hearing, a group representing the displaced workers delivered a letter asking HSBC and Sovereign to allow the workers to receive their requested payments before the banks are paid.

“Banks have insurance. We don’t,” the letter said. “Banks can wait to be repaid. We can’t.”

Former workers have also demanded the same severance they say Colibri offered workers dismissed in a previous layoff — one week’s pay for every year of service.

“All we’re asking for is to be equal to everyone else,” said Michael Masi, 66, who worked for 10 years as a toolmaker for Colibri.

Jeffrey S. Brenner, who represents both banks, accepted the letter. But in an interview, he said Judge Silverstein will decide the order in which creditors are paid. “That’s for the courts to determine,” he said.

The former employees –– including several who were married to co-workers and others who had spent decades at the company –– have also made their case at protests organized by Fuerza Laboral, an immigrant and labor rights group in Providence.

The recession and collapse of the state’s historic jewelry industry make the demanded payments and health insurance coverage particularly critical, the former workers say.

“When you send your resumé, there is no reply,” said Alda Bonin, 52, who designed sterling silver and gold bracelets and watches for Colibri. “There is a hiring freeze everywhere.”

bgedan@projo.com