The Investigation into AlaTrade Foods for 165 Layoffs

A law firm is investigating an Alabama poultry processing company for laying off 165 people without adequate notice to employees or the state. Chicago-based Strauss Borelli PLLC, a class action law firm, is investigating AlaTrade Foods for the late March layoffs at its Phenix City facility, its largest plant in Alabama.

“We believe AlaTrade Foods employees may be entitled to sixty days of severance pay and benefits,” the company said in a March 31 statement.

Representatives for AlaTrade Foods did not respond to requests for comment from AL.com. But in a March 24 letter, a representative for AlaTrade Foods told the Alabama Department of Commerce that the company planned to inform its employees of the layoffs on March 27. The facility is keeping another 125 of its current employees, said Randy Dorsett, director of human resources for AlaTrade Foods, in the letter.

The Commerce Department’s website lists the initial report date as March 28 for AlaTrade’s public notice. Federal law requires large employers to file a public WARN notice with the state at least 60 days in advance of mass layoffs or plant closures. Those WARN notices are published by the Alabama Department of Commerce.

“The variety of products we have been accustomed to producing in our Phenix City facility has changed extensively over the past several years, and we’ve made every effort, including significant investments to move as the market requires,” Dorsett wrote in the letter. “But unfortunately, our efforts haven’t produced the results needed for us to continue to operate in all areas as we would prefer.”

AlaTrade Foods processes more than 400 million pounds of chicken annually in Phenix City and its two other locations, in Albertville and Boaz. The company was founded in 2000.

Source: al.com