The P.E.I. Labour Department ordered a wind energy company this week to pay its employees the back wages owed to them.

Some employees who work for Entegrity Wind Systems have told CBC News their employer hasn’t paid them in weeks.

In mid-June, Entegrity told all of its 35 employees to stay home after it began to experience financial troubles.

Most of the employees affected worked in Charlottetown while some worked at a factory in Albany, P.E.I.

Malcolm Lodge, the chief technical officer with Entegrity, said the company did not see any problems beforehand.

"It happened fairly quickly and some large customers who had gone part of the way into purchases of numbers of machines scaled back their purchases," Lodge told CBC News on Friday.

"We had thought we would ride it through. We've now had to downsize the company a bit," he said.

Entegrity, which has been operating in the province since 2004, manufactures 50-kilowatt wind turbines that are suitable for small businesses and farms.

The company maintains operations in Prince Edward Island and in Boulder, Colo.

Entegrity sent a letter to its suppliers and customers in June to inform them that the economic slowdown in the U.S. has affected its overall sales.

The provincial government lent approximately $400,000 to the company. Lodge said a portion of that loan has been repaid.

Lodge said the company is currently seeking financing from both the public and private sectors so it can continue its operations.