by Attorneys representing former employees said the law is clearly on the workers’ side
TUPELO, Miss. — A document obtained by Home News Now shows that United Furniture Industries had a WARN Act notice — or what was labeled as a WARN Act notice — sent to some workers who were victims of the company’s mass layoff on Nov. 21.
But there were two issues with the notice, according to those who had received copies after the fact.
The Nov. 21 document was sent out after the workers were actually let go. Secondly, it told workers the layoffs were immediate, without affording them 60 days’ notice as required by federal law.
According to legal counsel representing the workers in their fight to now obtain the 60 days’ back pay, the notice was sent to workers at the company’s Verona, Mississippi, plant, and postmarked Nov. 23.
Many workers didn’t receive it until the following week, a week after the Nov. 21 email and text message that communicated the company was closing.
Alleged WARN Act violations are at the heart of several class action lawsuits filed on behalf of as many as 2,700 affected workers, most of whom are in Mississippi, but also North Carolina and California.
Lawyers representing those clients said they have not heard from company owner David Belford or legal counsel representing him in the case.
“There has not been a word,” said Philip Hearn, an attorney representing about 1,100 workers in the case, 1,000 of which are in Mississippi.
“It is just incredible,” he added of the circumstances regarding the layoff, which the company told workers was due to unforeseen circumstances. “It is just incredible…I have never seen anything like it.”
Home News Now has also tried to contact Belford without success. There have been rumors that he left the country immediately after the mass layoff. However, his exact whereabouts at press time were unknown.
“I think he just got out of there because he knew the blowback was going to be excruciating for him,” Hearn said, discussing the sudden layoff which not only immediately cut off pay, but also health benefits. “There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything, and this could not have been more wrong. It is ridiculous.”
He said the impact on the communities where United is located will likely be severe.
“I am telling you, North Mississippi is very rural and very poor and — like North Carolina — we are heavily dependent on the furniture industry. And this has had a ripple effect on so many families and so many communities.”
He said he also has been starting to get calls from various suppliers and others doing business with United — “people who have had their trucks and their trailers locked up over there with no access to them.”
He said that one client dropped off $25,000 in supplies on Monday — the day the company told workers it was closing. He said the client was told he would get a check on Tuesday “and instead they closed their doors. They padlocked it and told him he wasn’t going to get his supplies back and that he wasn’t going to get a check for $25,000 either. … This is a small operation, so that kind of thing will devastate him.”
“The fallout is having a domino effect now,” he added. “It’s just tremendous.”
William “Jack” Simpson, an attorney also representing workers affected by the sudden closure, said he also has not had any communication with Belford or legal counsel representing him in the case.
“I don’t know if they have retained counsel yet or not,” Simpson said. “We filed our lawsuit and served process on them, but they still have some time left to respond to it.”
Simpson was referring to the 21 days a party has to respond to its Nov. 22 lawsuit. “I am ready to find out who they do hire as counsel so we can begin communications with them. It’s been silent on their end,” he told Home News Now on Dec. 2. “It is just kind of puzzling that they haven’t filed bankruptcy yet.”
John W. “Don” Barrett, who also is representing the laid-off workers as part of a class action suit, said he also was aware of the “Separation and WARN” notice that went out to employees after the firing.
“They didn’t send it to everybody, but they did send it to some people,” he said. “They said some phony baloney that there were special circumstances and that this was unforeseen and all that kind of stuff. All that will come to light once we get into it. … I can assure you of that.”
He said that the fight for the workers’ back pay will likely be with the lenders as the company appears to be “dead and gone.” But he said the workers have the law on their side in this particular situation.
“Clearly the business has collapsed, but these workers are entitled to be paid first and the banks can have the rest of it,” he said. “But these workers have got to be paid — that’s the law and it’s the only thing that is right. Doing this just before Christmas is just about as awful as anything I can imagine, so we are going to do what we can to protect these workers.”
