Retailer Forman Mills Fails to End Office Layoff Notice Lawsuit

Clothing retailer Forman Mills Inc., which fired corporate office workers, rehired them two weeks later, and paid them for their time in limbo, failed to secure a pretrial end to claims that it violated mass layoff notice laws.

Forman Mills’ workers “did experience an employment loss that triggers liability” under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act and a state equivalent, and they can get statutory damages under both laws “even though they never missed a paycheck,” the US District Court for the District of New Jersey said Monday.

Plaintiffs Noell Del Rossi and Dawn ...