Megan K. Mechak
Mon, 04/03/2023
Approximately a month after Bed Bath & Beyond announced it was closing all 49 Harmon store locations, the retailers have been sued under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (“WARN”) Act and a similar New Jersey state law, alleging they failed to provide employees with proper advance notice of the mass layoffs, which occurred in February and March 2023.
As MSE previously reported, WARN Act is a federal law that requires employers with one hundred or more employees to provide sixty days written notice of a plant closing or the mass layoff of more than 50 workers at a “single site of employment,” which includes circumstances where an employee will be furloughed for more than six months.
According to the lawsuit, Palmieri v. Harmon Stores, Inc., the affected employees were laid off, but not given the notice required by the WARN Act or its New Jersey counterpart. According to the lawsuit, although Bed Bath & Beyond announced it would be closing the Harmon stores (which sold discount beauty, health, and cosmetics products) on January 26, it was not until late February that employees were told the stores would close the next week. The plaintiff, a former store manager, alleges he was laid off March 2 and did not receive the sixty days’ notice required by law.
The complaint also alleges that Bed Bath & Beyond and Harmon failed to pay terminated employees their wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, benefits, and accrued holiday and vacation pay following their terminations.
Neither Bed Bath & Beyond nor Harmon has answered the lawsuit.
If you believe your employer terminated you in violation of the WARN Act, contact MSE at info@mselaborlaw.com.
