A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry


Umm... I think MModal did not follow the WARN Act. - Mass Layoffs of 50 or more at one time.


Posted: Aug 17, 2013

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/layoffs.htm

WARN protects workers, their families, and communities by requiring employers to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs.  Advance notice gives workers and their families some transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain other jobs and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining that will allow these workers to compete successfully in the job market. WARN also provides for notice to state dislocated worker units so that they can promptly offer dislocated worker assistance.

A covered plant closing occurs when a facility or operating unit is shut down for more than six months, or when 50 or more employees lose their jobs during any 30‑day period at a single site of employment. A covered mass layoff occurs when 50 to 499 employees are affected during any 30-day period at a single employment site (or for certain multiple related layoffs, during a 90-day period), if these employees represent at least 33 percent of the employer’s workforce where the layoff will occur, and the layoff results in an employment loss for more than six months. If the layoff affects 500 or more workers, the 33 percent rule does not apply.

WARN does not apply to closure of temporary facilities, or the completion of an activity when the workers were hired only for the duration of that activity. WARN also provides for less than 60 days notice when the layoffs resulted from closure of a faltering company, unforeseeable business circumstances, or natural disaster.

Employee Rights

Workers or their representatives, and units of local government may bring individual or class action suits. U.S. district courts enforce WARN requirements. The court may allow reasonable attorney's fees as part of any final judgment.

What is a mass layoff??  "Mass layoff" is defined by the United States Department of Labor as 50 or more workers laid off from the same company around the same time.

There is more to read in this Employment Law Guide.  I know for a FACT there were pages and pages with lists of names.  I was told I was number 92 on the list and there were over 100 more to go that needed to be called and it was not dealing with today's events. 

IMPORTANT ABOUT THE WARN ACT. - A MUST READ.

[ In Reply To ..]
http://forum.mtstars.com/498699.html

Notices to employees or their representatives. WARN requires employers to notify either the individual employees affected by a plant closing or mass layoff or their representatives at least 60 calendar days prior to any planned plant closing or mass layoff. If employees are terminated on different dates, the date of the first individual termination within the statutory 30-day or 90-day period triggers the 60-day notice requirement.

Probably does not - apply

[ In Reply To ..]
to an Indian company.

Let's do something - sm

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I was laid off today. Posted below.

Ah Oh!! - Alias

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This sounds like something their high-paid lawyers missed. Sounds like another employee lawsuit is possible on this one. Could be they got carried away with their big bad selves one too many times.

they probably don't have to warn us cause we are remote - sm

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In the wording, no communities are affectd because we are scattered, so I would investigate that aspect.
It is at the same company. Same address - where we get our paychecks.
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We are also being shut down as far as I am concerned because of being offshored/outsourced.
We are a community of medical transcriptionists, - and we most definitely ARE affected!
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*

If you were laid off, you need to tell your UE office - about not abiding to the WARN Act.

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http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryw/qt/WARN_Act.htm

The WARN Act requires employers to give notice of any mass layoff, that does not result from a plant closing, but will result in an employment loss of 500 or more employees during any 30-day period. The Act also covers employment loss for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the employer's active workforce. (This does not consider the layoff of employees who have worked for the employer less than 6 months in the past 12 months or employees who work, on average, less than 20 hours a week.)

Under WARN Act provisions, an employer who orders a plant closing or mass layoff without providing this notice is liable to each unnotified employee for back pay and benefits for up to 60 days during which the employer is in violation of the WARN Act. (The employer's liability may be reduced by the amount of any wages or unconditional payments paid to the employee during the violation time period.)

The employer who fails to provide this notice to the implicated local government is charged a civil penalty of up to $500 for each day the employer violates notification requirements. This penalty can be avoided if the employer pays each affected employee within 3 weeks after the plant closing or layoff.

In a personal story, I was forced to lay off 26 employees (non-union) during a potential client bankruptcy situation. No sooner did the laid off employees hit the unemployment offices in the state than the WARN Act officials were on the phone to me. Employees told their tales of woe to the unemployment compensation office workers and predicted that we would shortly close the company. The front line workers notified their supervisors who notified the state.

I was able to tell the WARN Act officials that we had not, and did not intend to violate the WARN Act. But, the experience was a lesson in how quickly our state reacted to a former employee-spread rumor. Since I know you'll want to hear the end of the story, the short-term cuts helped save the company which is thriving today. No additional employee layoffs were required.

Not sure this applies to MM - MT2

[ In Reply To ..]
If you read the employee handbook, it states we are "at will" employees and can be let go at any time for any reason. I think this covers their butt so to speak. But I'm not a legal expert. I'm part-time in the North and still have my job (as of today) but I admit my stomach is in a knot waiting for the phone call.

it certainly does apply - can you say class action suit? nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Yes, we are at-will employees, but these were - MASS LAYOFFS.

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Mass layoffs brings the Warn Act into play.

"Mass layoffs" is a relative term. - How can you know it was a "mass Layoff"

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I count less than 10 who posted on this board that state they were laid off this week. M-Modal apparently has 12,000 employees, so that would hardly qualify as a "mass layoff."

We have absolutely zero way of knowing how many were laid-off. People saying ALL part timers were let go seem to be contradicted by other part timers posting they still have jobs. A couple of posts say their CCM told them it was 100s of lay-offs, but if the calls were being monitored with more than one person on the call, as was also stated, then I find it difficult to believe any CCM went off script to give information on how many were laid off.

I don't think I would get my hopes up that a class action lawsuit will come to save the day. Big Business seems to always win. Besides the last big class action lawsuit win against MQ resulting in the MTs getting a free dictionary or a CMT course. Not exactly a big win there.

MTs who use this board are likely just a small - percentage of total MTs laid off. (nm)
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nm

WARN does not cover PT employees - nm

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xx

HERE'S WHO'S COVERED UNDER WARN - Alias

[ In Reply To ..]
Got this off the DOL website for WARN:

Who is Covered

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is administered by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA). WARN generally covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting those who have worked less than six months in the last 12 months and those who work less than 20 hours per week, or those employers with 100 or more employees, including part-time workers, who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week, exclusive of overtime. Regular federal, state, and local government entities that provide public services are not covered. Employees entitled to notice under WARN include managers and supervisors as well as hourly and salaried workers.

Looks like it is only triggered if they lay off more than - 500 workers in 90 day period

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So one can safely assume they did not lay off more than 500 workers in the last 90 days.

bet they stopped at - 499
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they've got pretty smart lawyers.
You bet they do. People are dreaming if they - think there is a lawsuit in this
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Of course they have lawyers advising them. To think they don't is pure folly. They can stop at 499, wait for 90 days, and do 499 more.

I guess I am not as outraged at this as some apparently are because I learned a very long time ago that life is not "fair" and a business is about the bottom line and profits for the top dogs only.

I shrug my shoulders and move on. They are not worth getting in a big old tizzy and raging for justice.

We all saw this coming 10 to 15 years ago and certainly this past 5 have been nothing if not a gigantic neon sign that our jobs were very much going, going, gone.
499 employees, then another 499 employees, etc. - exMT to be
[ In Reply To ..]
If this is the case, most certainly legal action should be undertaken as the judge might take a very dim view of this practice, and consider WARN violated. In any case, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever why anyone applying for UIB should not tell them that they think there might be a violation of WARN, and then let them investigate; basically the same principle applies here as when filing other sort of insurance claims, file it anyway even if you don't think it is covered, you might be surprised, in any case let them tell you it does not apply.
People dreaming may actually have a valid reason to do so - and should ALWAYS ask questions SM
[ In Reply To ..]
or at least make inquiries about what's going on with UC, Dept of Labor, attorneys, any source they may have available in their state.

You may prefer to roll over and play dead, others may not.


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