Lucky’s employees sue over severance pay

The abrupt closing of 32 Lucky’s Market stores and rapid layoffs that followed deprived more than 1,000 employees of the full 60 days of severance pay and benefits that federal law requires, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.

The suit, filed as a part of Lucky’s bankruptcy case in Delaware, seeks class action status for eligible employees. Laura Forsyth, who worked at a Lucky’s store in St. Petersburg, is named as lead plaintiff.

Lucky’s told workers on Jan. 21 that the stores’ last day of operation would be Feb. 12. That’s only 22 days between the announcement that the stores would be closing and the scheduled closing date.

Yet the federal government’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, known as WARN, requires employees of large companies to be notified of impending layoffs at least 60 days in advance or be paid the equivalent of 60 days wages and benefits.

The company is closing 20 of its 21 Florida stores, including Broward County locations in Oakland Park, Coral Springs and Plantation.

Displaced Lucky’s employees are eligible to join the case if the store where they worked employed 100 or more full time workers and if at least 50 of those workers were terminated. That applies to most of the 32 stores slated to be shuttered by Feb. 12, said Stuart Miller of the New Yorkbased firm Lankenau & Miller LLP, which filed the suit in conjunction with three other firms..

In dissolution cases, federal bankruptcy rules prioritize back pay up to $13,500 per worker, he said.

PHILLIP VALYS/SOUTHFLORIDA SUN SENTINEL 2017 Workers hand out samples at the grand opening of Lucky’s Market’s Oakland Park location.