They closed down!

[ThePhoneGoddess]

So this big call center here in town closed down this week. I worked there temp for a while in early '06 and I still have a few friends who work there. Apparently they didn't bother to tell any of their employees that they were in financial trouble and had been to court recently over it. None of the employees found out until this Wednesday, when they showed up for work and found notices on the doors stating that the building had been seized by bankruptcy court and the call center was shut down. Apparently they got paid the day before, and the next day when they went to cash their paychecks, a bunch of the paychecks bounced.

My friends are freaking out. In fact, I'm loaning a good friend some money because her paycheck bounced and she needs baby food. Bastards, I hope they get in a lot of trouble for not bothering to let any of their call center serfs know what was going on.

ETA: apparently the paychecks didnt bounce, the banks are refusing to cash them because of fears they will bounce. The company shutting is big news here in the papers.

[Gurndigarn]

ETA: apparently the paychecks didnt bounce, the banks are refusing to cash them because of fears they will bounce. The company shutting is big news here in the papers.

Fears the will bounce? They don't have the courtesy to at least try? There has to be some way to cover their tails other than outright refusal. Possibly put a hold on the money until the checks clear, and/or warning their customers about any bounced-check fees?

Sounds like time for a new bank, really.

[Sandman]

*cough* WARN violation *cough* If the call center had 50+ employees, they MUST give them all notice if they are laying them all off. If they don't, they could be liable big time.

[Gurndigarn]

*cough* WARN violation *cough* If the call center had 50+ employees, they MUST give them all notice if they are laying them all off. If they don't, they could be liable big time.

Ah, no, they don't, unless they're union and it's in the contract... which I doubt. Most employers try to work on an at-will basis.

What it does mean is that all the employees are eligible for unemployment. That's it.

[TNT]

*cough* WARN violation *cough* If the call center had 50+ employees, they MUST give them all notice if they are laying them all off. If they don't, they could be liable big time.

Right. The WARN act:

"The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) was enacted on August 4, 1988 and became effective on February 4, 1989.

General Provisions

WARN offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government."


But... there are exceptions and it sounds like bankruptcy would be covered by (1):

(1) Faltering company. This exception, to be narrowly construed, covers situations where a company has sought new capital or business in order to stay open and where giving notice would ruin the opportunity to get the new capital or business, and applies only to plant closings;

(2) unforeseeable business circumstances. This exception applies to closings and layoffs that are caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time notice would otherwise have been required; and

(3) Natural disaster. This applies where a closing or layoff is the direct result of a natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, drought or storm.


http://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

[Banrion]

What many places will do though, instead of giving the notice and allowing people the 60 days of work in which time theft of company property and confidential information becomes rampant, they will lock the doors and cease operation, and continue to pay employees for the 60 days, so while they are not working, they are still technically employed.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Update:

apparently the company owners are in big old trouble. A few weeks ago they authorized payments to the bigwigs of the company, loans and advances for over $200,000, and that's why there's no money in the accounts to pay the paychecks. The cell company they were taking calls for asked the court to sever their contract due to mismanagement, and self-dealing among the companies' insiders.

ETA: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/o...570.xml&coll=7

news account of the shut down.