KANSAS CITY – A hospital system is facing a class action lawsuit brought by a former employee who claims it violated labor laws by not providing 60 days notice of termination as required by the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
Tommy White filed the lawsuit against Select Specialty Hospital-Kansas City Inc,. doing business as Select Specialty Hospital-Western Missouri and Select Medical Corporation, on May 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
White is asking the court for unpaid wages and benefits for 60 “working days” on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated. Approximately 105 employees were terminated May 18 as part of a plant closing at the Kansas City, Missouri location.
It's alleged in court documents that Select Speciality Hospital did not provide written notice of the pending closure as required by the 1988 WARN Act. The act offers protection to employees by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs.
An employer must give notice of the shutdown will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees during a 30-day period. It must also give notice if there will be a mass layoff of 50 to 499 employees if they make up at least 33 percent of the employer’s workforce.
The lawsuit alleges that the company failed to pay White and each class member “their respective wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay and accrued vacation for sixty (60) days following their respective termination."
The complaint also alleges that Specialty Hospital failed to make pension and 401(k) contributions, and “provide them with health insurance coverage and other employee benefits.”
The plaintiffs are being represented by attorneys at Lathrop Gage LLP in Kansas City, Lankenau & Miller, LLP in New York City and The Gardner Firm in Mobile, Alabama.