Trucker Yellow Hit With Worker Suit on Mass-Layoff Notice Issues

Yellow Corp. and four subsidiaries failed to give nearly 30,000 workers the required advance notice before a mass layoff that began last week, a new suit alleges.

The trucking giant terminated the workers during mass layoffs that started July 28, but it didn’t provide the 60 days of advance written notice required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware on Tuesday.

Yellow representatives didn’t immediately respond to a Wednesday request for comment. The suit also names subsidiaries YRC Inc., USF Holland LLC, New Penn Motor Express LLC, and USF Reddaway Inc. as defendants.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union with collective bargaining agreements covering approximately 22,000 Yellow workers, announced the trucking company’s impending bankruptcy on July 31. The anticipated bankruptcy could test the circumstances under which union contracts can survive insolvency proceedings.

Yellow employed Armando Rivera as a dockworker in California for approximately 25 years until letting him go as part of the mass layoff, according to the complaint. Rivera, who also served as a union steward, sued on behalf of a proposed class of other laid-off workers.

The complaint also alleges violations of California’s state version of the WARN Act, which imposes the same 60-day notice requirement as the federal law, and of the New Jersey Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act, which sets out a 90-day notice period. The New Jersey law entitles Yellow workers based in the state to additional severance pay, too, the suit says.

Rivera received notice of the layoff the same day he lost his job alongside approximately 600 other Yellow employees at the same California facility, according to the complaint. None of the workers received written notice ahead of time, Rivera says.

Chris Loizides of Wilmington, Del., and Raisner Roupinian LLP represent Rivera.

The case is Rivera v. Yellow Corp., D. Del., No. 1:23-cv-00830, complaint filed 8/1/23.