I am sure people are afraid to speak up - I was surpised that no updates are being provided.
If you are affected - good luck and Godspeed.
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How do you know that?
The Tampa office will ultimately be closed and folded back into the North Florida division. Short supply and poor planning has it on the chopping block
The DOL makes clear that notice must still be given in the face of a natural disaster, whether in advance or after the employment loss caused by the disaster. Where a WARN triggering event occurs as an indirect result of natural disaster, this exception will not apply, but the “unforeseeable business circumstance” may be applicable. 20 CFR 639.9 (c)(3) - (4).
Currently, no case law addresses whether a pandemic such as COVID-19 would qualify as a “natural disaster” under WARN, and very few cases discuss the “natural disaster” exception generally. At least one court has stated that human involvement in the origins of an event would preclude it from being a natural disaster. Carver v. Foresight Energy, LP, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90665, at *12 (C.D. Il. 2016) (any employer relying on this exception would be required to present facts and arguments that show a direct nexus between the virus and the WARN event, as opposed to an indirect one).
Natural disasters and “unforeseen business circumstances” are listed exceptions under Warn. Covid is being classified as a natural disaster.
700 total company wide
20 in north Florida
25 in west Florida
25 in south west Florida
Two dozen in the Tampa office. Haven't heard any numbers on Orlando yet.
There was at least 25 or more in the south west Florida division that included construction and sales consultants.
id love to know the numbers, and how the got out of paying 60 days notice under the warn act.