A former Ultimate Electronics Inc. employee sued the operator of 46 home-entertainment and electronics stores for failing to give notice before it fired about 170 workers.
Thornton-based Ultimate violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act by failing to provide a timely warning of the closing, Brenda Goentzel said in a complaint filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The federal WARN act requires 60 days’ written notice, according to the complaint.
Goentzel and the other members of the class “were discharged by the defendant without cause on his or her part as part of or as the reasonably foreseeable result of the mass layoff or mass layoffs or plant closing ordered by the defendant at the facility,” Goentzel said in her complaint.
The retailer filed for bankruptcy Jan. 26, citing decreased sales at some locations and refusals by some suppliers to ship goods on credit.
In Chapter 11 papers, the company listed both assets and debt of $100 million to $500 million. An affiliate, CC Retail LLC, also sought court protection.
Goentzel requested class-action status for the suit so it would cover all workers at the facility who were fired from Jan. 3 to Feb. 7. Each should be awarded 60 days’ pay and benefits, she said.
