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They could have done it during the next business day. There’s no excuse for treating folks like this.
It's not really possible to lay off 2,700 workers in a single day, face-to-face. Much less that many workers spread out across three locations and all across America's roadways.
Even if they kept it a brief 5-minute meeting, it would have taken 10 hours without breaks to notify everyone. More than a single work day. And what is everyone supposed to do in the meantime while everyone is slowly called into an office to receive notice? Stand around and chit chat? It's not like the factory floor would be running.
A lengthy email might have been more helpful, but not by much. And not everyone has email or checks it before they leave for work in the morning. Would you have wanted to drive all the way to your job only to find the doors locked? Some people have lengthy commutes for their jobs.
In the past, people have been notified by just a slip of paper in their pay packet. Or via a recorded voicemail message. Or even just by the number of times their desk phone rings. There really isn't a good way to conduct mass layoffs.
Because COBRA is the right to continue health insurance coverage (at individuals expense) based on the same options active employees have. If a company terminates all health care coverage for active employees, it also terminates COBRA continued coverage for terminated employees. So, if the company (for any reasons) cancels their health care options for active employees, it cancels health care options for terminated employees as well.
The main cause of confusion is many workers think COBRA means they have to be offered health care. The reality is they only have to offer the same health care options active employees. No active employee health care options = no COBRA option for terminated employees!
Yeah also if the employee declines coverage while employed then their is no COBRA when unemployed.
A good friend of mine from years past had no coverage at work (he didn't want to pay for it). Goes on vacation, gets terminated on Day 1. Wife slips on a rock, breaks her ankle and I said quick sign up for COBRA and yeah that wasn't an option.
Other than getting home, what is the motivation for a truck driver to deliver his load to a warehouse after he has been fired? If they expect them to keep driving, they have to pay them.
Yeah also if the employee declines coverage while employed then their is no COBRA when unemployed.
A good friend of mine from years past had no coverage at work (he didn't want to pay for it). Goes on vacation, gets terminated on Day 1. Wife slips on a rock, breaks her ankle and I said quick sign up for COBRA and yeah that wasn't an option.
Nothing stopping them from going to the ACA website and signing up for new coverage.
That's about as cold blooded and evil an act any business could do towards its own employees.
It's bad enough to get fired days before Thanksgiving, but to do it by text? How cowardly is that? And the kicker? No extension of benefits especially COBRA.
And then to think some employers get upset that people don't give 2 weeks notice before quitting.
This company might have gotten pandemic loans as well.
Pandemic loans were 3 years ago now. That money has been spent, and probably spent 3 times over looking at the financials of this company.
Look.. Yes, this sucks. I hate it for the employees.. But.. Let's look at the alternatives here.
The company is massively in debt and can't pay its vendors.
So.. What's the other option?
Keep them working and have their paychecks bounce? So now.. Not only are people not getting paychecks.. They're not getting paychecks for work they've done.
Someone said the writing was on the wall, and I agree with that. So, maybe, the only thing that I can come up with here that the company could have done better was just shut the doors a few months ago or at that point, you (hopefully) have enough money to do an orderly shutdown, letting people have a 90 day notice.. I think they probably saw that this would wind up being the endgame, and doing it in August or September might have given folks a little more time before the holidays to find another job.
The method AND timing sucks.. But.. Poorly run companies, which even the employees say this was.. Make poor decisions. that's.. Probably why they're out of business.
It's easy for an employer to mitigate an employee WARN lawsuits by continuing to pay them for the next 60 days or provide a lump equal to 60 days. If they are going to do that (based on timeline of this event they still may have another full week to decide), there would be no basis for a lawsuit monetary settlement.
Since there are no more employees covered under a health plan, the company has no requirement to offer COBRA. Employees can immediately seek private health care coverage under the ACA.
Considering the propensity for workers to engage in workplace violence, probably was a smart move to terminate all employment while nobody was physically at the worksite.
To mitigate the company blowback they should have done it 60 days ago and paid them what they have been paying
Now any resources will go to attorneys
Please explain why you believe they are "illegally not providing COBRA coverage".
My position is that if there are no longer any active countable employees remaining on the payroll and the company (as a result) has terminated health insurance coverage, there is NO violation of COBRA and the company is well within their rights to kick everyone off health insurance. I base my conclusion on the actual reading of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985.
Ok I see your point. In the event of a full closure and termination of employees and benefit plan, that action alone is not illegal to have no COBRA. However, put in combination with lack of WARN act, the employees would be entitled to 60 days of wages AND benefits. Hence the plan would have to stay open longer....hence illegal.
But I was sloppy in my response and stand corrected.
Ok I see your point. In the event of a full closure and termination of employees and benefit plan, that action alone is not illegal to have no COBRA. However, put in combination with lack of WARN act, the employees would be entitled to 60 days of wages AND benefits. Hence the plan would have to stay open longer....hence illegal.
But I was sloppy in my response and stand corrected.
No problem, very common misunderstanding about COBRA.
You did raise another quirk of WARN. There's that ILO thing. (In Lieu Of).
The quirk is a company can pay out 60 days of wages but it's off payroll. That means it's basically along the lines of a bonus. The problem with ILO is different states treat it differently. A state like California treats it as a penalty the company has to pay for work already performed. Other states, (more pro business) treats it like pay for advance work not yet performed. So in CA it wont effect unemployment where in other states, you can't collect until after those 60 days as your being paid for them.
But even under WARN, if a company is broke, they are broke. So when it comes to scarping for the crumbs, again different states have different ways of handling this. Using CA again as an example, the state on behalf of the workers in that state will impose a civil order for the money which makes them move to the head of the line to get the workers money. However, most states leave you to the outcome of private (most often class action) lawsuits and you end up waiting in a long line that may mean very little and the attorneys probably will pay themselves first so the workers may get nothing in the end.
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