Microchip Can’t Undo Class of Laid-off Workers Seeking Severance

Laid-off employees of a company acquired by Microchip Technology Inc. retained the right to seek severance benefits as a certified class of 220, a US judge ruled, rejecting a bid to dissolve it.

The dispute turns in part on whether Microchip improperly induced former Atmel Corp. employees to sign release agreements by misrepresenting that their severance plan had expired. This issue is “likely to generate common answers” and thus can be resolved on a class-wide basis, Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. said in a Thursday opinion denying Microchip’s request.

Microchip argued these questions turned on individual issues, including a given ...