Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Micron skirts federal act requiring warning of mass layoffs


oe Estrella - jestrella@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 07/09/07

Micron Technology’s refusal to say exactly how many lay offs it plans at its Boise plant has allowed it to skirt a federal law requiring prior notice of a mass layoffs, a local management expert said today.

Gundars Kaupins, professor of management and department chair at Boise State University, said that by not revealing precisely how many employees will be furloughed the company avoided triggering the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act.

The law stipulates that employers must give two months notice of “plant closings or mass layoff.”

“Just a general statement that there are going to be layoffs isn’t enough,” Kaupins said. “Just that doesn’t trigger the Warn Act. There has to be a formal announcement.”

Bob Fick, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Labor, disagreed, arguing that a layoff of 500 employees or more in a 30-day period would trigger the Warn Act.

“But I’m not a lawyer, and their lawyers may be interpreting the law differently,” Fick said.
Laid-off Micron employees have complained in anonymous e-mails and calls to the Idaho Statesman that the company was not proving any information about who or many people would be let go.

From IdahoStatesman.com

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