Fortunoff May Close Westbury Flagship
By JCK Online Staff -- JCK Online, 2/11/2009 12:27:00 PM
Fortunoff notified employees that it may be forced to eliminate jobs at its flagship Westbury, N.Y., store as soon as Feb. 13 and eventually close the location if the company is unable to find investors or a buyer, Newsday reports.
The jewelry and home goods chain notified employees of the in a letter and also filed a WARN statement covering 378 people, and notified Hempstead Town, Newsday reports.
Fortunoff, which filed for bankruptcy last week, has set a Feb. 19 deadline for bids from potential buyers and an auction date of Feb. 23.
Under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act, or WARN, employers with at least 50 full-time employees must give workers, unions, and state and local authorities 90-day advance notice of a mass layoff or plant closing. Federal WARN rules require employers to give 60 days' notice, but the state rule takes precedence, according to the newspaper.
Both federal regulations and state law, which took effect Feb. 1, allow a shorter notification period for various reasons, the newspaper reports. But employers must be able to justify the shorter time frame.
