Off-Price Fashion Retailer Facing Class-Action Lawsuit After Layoffs
A new lawsuit says Forman Mills violated federal and state laws when it laid off more than 50 headquarters employees without sufficient notice or severance.
Former assistant buyer Noell Del Rossi filed a class action lawsuit against the 46-store off-price fashion retailer on June 7, claiming that the Pennsauken, N.J.-based company violated the federal and state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act when it terminated 33 percent or more of its workforce via a statement that read “[b]ased on the economic circumstances and operational needs of the business, your position has been eliminated.”
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According to New Jersey state law, the WARN Act requires employers with more than 100 full-time employees (Forman Mills had over 130) to give 90-day advance notice of a layoff of more than 50 employees. The federal WARN Act states that employers must provide a 60-day notice. Del Rossi alleges that Forman Mills failed to do so, as she claims that the affected employees were told the termination was “effective immediately,” according to the complaint. She also alleged that the off-price chain store failed to pay the federal WARN class members one week of pay for each year of service as required by the New Jersey WARN Act as well as an additional four weeks of pay for not providing the requisite 90-day notice.
Del Rossi is filing the class action to represent all the employees who were terminated without cause on June 6 by Forman Mills, which has a presence in nine states plus an e-commerce site.
The lawsuit is seeking damages in the amount of unpaid wages and salary, commissions and bonuses, accrued holiday and vacation pay, as well as retirement benefits for a 60-day period that would have been covered and paid under the employee benefit plans had that coverage continued for that period.
Forman Mills was founded in 1985 by Richard Forman, who sold the business to New York City-based private equity firm Goode Partners in 2016.
Neither Forman Mills nor Goode Partners responded to Sourcing Journal’s request for comment.
Forman Mills isn’t the only retailer accused of violating the WARN Act. Bed Bath & Beyond was sued on the same grounds after it let go of 1,300 workers. The plaintiff, one of the terminated workers, claimed the bankrupt retailer failed to provide the required advance notice and pay the full compensation owed. That lawsuit is now pending as the Chapter 11 case winds through the court system.
