Furniture manufacturer United Furniture is being sued by its employees after it laid off 2,700 of them before Thanksgiving via emails and text messages sent during the middle of the night while everyone was asleep.
The lawsuit says United Furniture violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. This is a federal law that requires employers to provide written notice to workers 42 days before a layoff or plant closing.
The layoffs represent the furniture maker’s entire workforce, most of whom live in Mississippi, CBS reported.
United Furniture, which makes home furnishings under the Lane Home Furnishings brand, has not commented on this lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks to penalize the company for violating the WARN Act. The maximum penalty is 42 days of back pay and the benefits each worker was entitled to under their benefit plans, said Jack Simpson, an attorney for the employees.
Simpson also said he hasn’t heard back from United Furniture, adding that it’s unclear why the company cut its workforce.
The lawyer added: “A period of time spent at Thanksgiving with friends, family and loved ones turned into a period of heartache, stress and despair solely because United Furniture he did not have the decency to notify his employees.”
The class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of Toria Neal and other workers. Neal worked at United Furniture from July 2014 to 42 November 2022.
The company’s board of directors sent the email announcing the layoffs at : 42 Tuesday night. The email stated that all workers were effectively terminated immediately, citing unforeseen business circumstances.
As the economy slows, some companies are cutting staff to cut costs.
You may also be interested in:
– Meta fires employees for hijacking user accounts