HOPE, Ark. –A putative class action filed Wednesday accuses the owners of Hope Bakery, which is scheduled to shut down this week, of violating federal law by failing to give employees at least 60 days notice that they would be losing their jobs.
Hope Bakery employee Christopher Estrada alleges that Hope Bakery owners are in violation of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires employers of 100 or more people to provide at least 60 days written notice before a plant closing or mass layoff.
Plans to shutter the Hope Bakery plant in Hope, Ark., were announced July 18 through the company’s employee portal. Workers were told their employment would end the following Saturday.
Estrada is asking a federal court in Texarkana, Ark., to certify the case as a class action that would include all of the bakery employees who found themselves with a week to secure new employment.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for the employees for unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, pension and 401(k) contributions and other benefits they would have earned in the 60 days after the termination date.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Hope Baking Company Inc. and East Baking Co. Inc. East Baking acquired a majority ownership of Hope Baking in 2023 and both company’s share management and ownership, according to Estrada’s complaint.
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