Fresh off the press... Two guys have started an #ITTLawsuit - the attorney representing them represented Corinthian folks as well (knows his stuff)... The source Link is at the bottom:
ITT Employees Sue Over Sudden Mass Layoff
A laid-off teacher and an office staffer at ITT Educational Services filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking class-action status on behalf of the 8,000 employees caught up in the closure of the embattled for-profit school operator.
The lawsuit seeks to hold the Indiana company to account for failing to give the 60-days notice required under federal law when large numbers of employees are terminated en masse.
ITT on Tuesday suddenly announced it was closing some 130 locations, due to a decision by the federal government to cut off financial aid to new students.
A spokeswoman for ITT couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Tuesday on the lawsuit, which invokes the federal Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act, or WARN Act.
ITT Tuesday blamed government action for its sudden decision to close its doors immediately, and called the federal funding cutoff for new students “inappropriate and unconstitutional.”
The closure affected some 40,000 students, as well as thousands of employees,
It is too soon to tell how many ITT employees can shelter under the WARN Act, said Jack Raisner, the New York lawyer representing the ITT workers in the suit.
The law applies only to locations with 50 or more employees. Employees of smaller ITT campuses might be unprotected by the law, which entitles them to pay and benefits in lieu of notice, Mr. Raisner said.
Filed in Delaware, the WARN Act lawsuit was brought in the names of a headquarters employee, business analyst Allen Federman, and an instructor at three California campuses, Steve Ryan.
Some employees at ITT headquarters said they received emails Friday telling them to take an extra-long Labor Day weekend and not to report for work on Tuesday.
“People were blowing money all weekend, not knowing they were fired,” Mr. Raisner said. “That’s ruffled some feathers.”
Mr. Raisner also represented employees of Corinthian College, another for-profit school chain that closed down after the federal government withdrew aid.
ITT, like Corinthian, could have defenses to claims it violated federal laws with the mass, no-warning layoff, Mr. Raisner said. Unforeseen business circumstances can excuse a WARN Act violation in some instances, and ITT has already said aggressive government tactics left it no choice.
Correction: The WARN Act lawsuit was brought in the names of a headquarters employee, business analyst Allen Federman, and an instructor at three California campuses, Steve Ryan. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Mr. Ryan was an instructor at two campuses.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/itt-employees-sue-over-sudden-mass-layoff-1473199006
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