Labor violation suit filed against Bill Heard Enterprises
A former employee of Bill Heard Enterprises Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 in September, has sued the auto dealership claiming it violated federal labor laws by firing thousands of employees before seeking bankruptcy protection.
New York-based law firm Outten & Golden LLP is representing Edward Kratzel, who worked at a Bill Heard facility in Las Vegas until Sept. 24, and is seeking class action for the suit.
The suit, filed in Decatur, argues Columbus, Ga.-based Bill Heard and its 23 affiliated companies are required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to give at least 60 days advance written notice of the job cuts and must continue paying certain wages, salary, and benefits during the notice period.
The suit seeks WARN Act-required wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, pension and 401(k) contributions, and other benefits that would have been paid or covered during the notice period, and attorneys’ fees and litigation-related costs (pay day loan).
Outten & Golden wants to have the suit certified as a class action to include employees fired at Bill Heard-owned facilities in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas, on or about Sept. 24.
In 2008, Bill Heard's dealerships had monthly losses ranging from $2 million to $5 million and on Sept. 24 the dealerships closed their doors.
William T. Heard Sr. founded the business with a single dealership in Columbus in 1919. In 1961, Bill Heard Jr. took over the company and grew it to 14 Chevrolet dealerships in seven states, including two in Florida, with one in Plant City.