Former Workers Sue UnitedHealth, Seeking Class Action for Violating Layoff Laws
Two former UnitedHealth workers are suing the Minnetonka, Minn.-based payer, saying it violated state and federal labor laws. In a suit filed Oct. 30 in U.S. District Court for the Northern California district in San Francisco, their lawyers charge UnitedHealth, Optum Services Health and Optum Care of trying to trick laid-off workers into signing liability waivers in exchange for severance pay that amounted to less money than they would get under the labor laws. Further, UnitedHealth did not file WARN notices informing workers or local government of the upcoming layoffs, the suit alleges. The workers are represented by the Alexander, Morrison and Fehr law firm in Los Angeles.
“The defendants, like so many others who have recently conducted similar mass layoffs, are attempting to skirt the requirements of the WARN act and their obligation to pay 60 days' wages,” the plaintiffs' lawyers charge in court documents. “Defendants have assumed that the state and federal WARN Acts do not apply to them despite laying off more than 1,000 workers nationwide and approximately 700 workers in California alone.”