TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. – An employee of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams has filed a lawsuit against the company alleging it violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act by not giving employees notice 60 days ahead of the closure over the weekend.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina this week, is seeking unpaid wages, benefits and more for 60 days required under the WARN act.
Lindsey Price, who worked in the upholstery factory on the inspection line at the company’s Taylorsville, N.C., factory, brought the lawsuit has asked it to be on behalf of other employees now unemployed. The lawsuit references about “700 other employees” while the notice received by the N.C. Department of Commerce Monday morning listed 533 employees.
Little Rock, Ark.-based The Stephens Group, a family-owned private equity company that invested in Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams in 2014, said in a statement this week that it had recently invested another $20 million in the company. That investment, however, wasn’t enough to prevent the shutdown.
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams posted a sign at its factory advising employees that the company could not secure financing to continue operations over the weekend telling them not to report to work. The company’s 25 retail stores have also closed.
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