Layoffs
Laid-Off Employees File Class Action Against Heller Ehrman
Posted Oct 21, 2008, 04:58 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Three laid-off employees of Heller Ehrman have filed a class action suit that contends the law firm failed to follow federal and state laws requiring 60-day notification before layoffs.
The suit (PDF provided by Heller Highwater) claims Heller failed to pay its employees wages owed under the federal and California WARN acts, as well as California vacation laws and Heller’s own employee contracts, the Recorder reports. The law firm laid off most of its staff on the last two Fridays.
The named plaintiffs are a technology assistant, a business development manager and a professional services manager. The suit was filed in federal court for the Northern District of California by lawyers for the employment firm Nichols Kaster.
Labor lawyer Stephen Pahl told the Recorder in a prior story that there are exceptions to the notice requirement for sudden bankruptcies or dissolutions, but it is difficult to establish a dissolution is so sudden that the required notice cannot be given.
Updated at 12:47 p.m. to include the complaint.
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