Legal News

WARNing: Thelen blames banks, class action says "copout"

By Richard Binder

Defunct firm Thelen is telling state and federal courts its hands were tied when it closed shop last year and did not pay its employees accrued vacation or give 60 days' notice of their impending joblessness.

The firm filed a response Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court to a class action brought by former employees seeking damages under the federal WARN Act. The dissolving firm filed the same answer in January to a federal claim filed in the Northern District of California.

The answers say the firm should be excused from its obligations under the WARN Act because they were impossible to fulfill. And because the firm had been seeking capital to keep in business, informing employees would have jeopardized attempts to secure a loan.

Steve Blum, who represents plaintiffs in the federal class action, said it's a "copout" to blame the banks. The partners should have ponied up the money for the employees, he said.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 09, 2009 (boomark / email).