Wet Seal Hit with Class Action over Abrupt Store Closures

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Last week, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of workers left in the dark after retail clothing store The Wet Seal Inc. abruptly shuttered its stores earlier this month on Jan. 7.

Lead plaintiffs Katelin Pruitt and Lalaine Ortega allege in their Wet Seal class action lawsuit filed in California that the company violated federal law when it did not disclose to its workers that it would be closing most of its stores. The plaintiffs allege that the company never told workers that it was and had been struggling financially for some time and workers had no inkling that the teen clothing store would close most of its stores leaving them out of a job.

The plaintiffs accuse Wet Seal of violating the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act when it did not provide notice to its employees about the pending layoffs. According to the store closure class action lawsuit, in addition to the abrupt layoff, Wet Seal also did not pay out employees for accrued vacation and overtime, nor did the company offer continuing health and medical benefits. The plaintiffs include several posters displayed by former employees in the shuttered stores claiming the company provided no notice and no severance pay and also covered up the imminent closure by telling employees the stores would be remodeled.

Wet Seal announced that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 16, the day after the store closure class action lawsuit was filed against them. “Despite strong evidence that Wet Seal was in steep decline, it continued to keep its employees uninformed right up until they abruptly fired 3,695 of their employees,” allege the plaintiffs in the Wet Seal class action lawsuit.

The store closure class action lawsuit seeks to represent Wet Seal employees who were unexpectedly laid off and lost their jobs on Jan. 7. The plaintiffs seek 60 days pay and benefits for qualifying Class Members, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

According to the store closure class action lawsuit, the causes of Wet Seal’s decline include the company’s “failure to adhere to a consistent theme of clothing, as well as aggressive competition from other similar, more popular retailers such as H&M and Forever 21.”

“Another major reason for Wet Seal’s closings is maybe its multiple replacements of the CEO,” continue the plaintiffs in the Wet Seal class action lawsuit, citing an article that blames this lack of continuous leadership for the company’s failure to “find its voice.”

“Finally, an overall decline in profits of other teen apparel retailers can be contributed to Wet Seal’s decline,” the store closure class action lawsuit concludes.

The plaintiffs are represented by John Gomez, John Fiske and Stephanie Poli of Gomez Trial Attorneys; Joseph Sauder, Matthew Schelkopf, Benjamin Johns and Joseph Kenney of Chimcles & Tikellis LLP; and Richard Maniskas of Ryan & Maniskas LLP.

The Wet Seal Layoff Class Action Lawsuit is Katelin Pruitt, et al. v. The Wet Seal Inc., Case No. 2:15-cv-00312, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.