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NS8 has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that the start-up laid off more than 200 workers in violation of employee rights.
Plaintiff Joshua Rosenberg says that he was laid off this month in violation of federal employee laws. When NS8 employees were laid off, they allegedly did not receive advanced written notice as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
NS8 employees reportedly learned of their sudden unemployment during an all-hands Zoom meeting.
“We got on and were told that our finances were not what we thought they were, and there would be layoffs,” a former NS8 software engineer told Forbes.
In a letter sent to employees, NS8 reportedly told their now laid off workers that they were forced to downsize due to “sudden and unforeseen circumstances.” This may refer to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fraud investigation which reportedly led the company’s founder and CEO to resign only 10 days before employees were laid off.
However, Rosenberg says he “was not told the reason for the mass layoff when he was terminated, despite having attended two company meetings on the subject prior to the termination.” Although Rosenberg and other employees were given some sort of notice, the class action lawsuit argues that this was not up to WARN standards.
The WARN Act ensures that workers who are laid off get advanced notice of the issue. Under the terms of the law, employees must be given 60 days of advanced notice if they are being laid off. This time is designed to help workers find new employment, insurance, or other necessary arrangements.
WARN employee rights only apply to businesses of a certain size. Businesses are required to comply with the law if they have 100 or more full time workers or 100 or more workers who work at least a combined 4,000 hours in a week.
Covered businesses include for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations, or quasi-public entities which are organized separately from the regular government.
Failure to provide advanced notice may entitle employees to back pay and benefits for up to 60 days – depending on the amount of notice a laid off worker did receive.
According to Rosenberg, NS8 satisfies the requirements to be covered by WARN but failed to provide the notice required under the law. The plaintiff also claims that NS8 further violated employee rights by failing to provide wages and other benefits for 60 days after the mass layoff.
“Defendant failed to pay Plaintiff and each of the Class Members their respective wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay and accrued vacation for 60 days following their respective terminations, and failed to make the pension and 401(k) contributions and provide employee benefits under COBRA for 60 days from and after the dates of their respective terminations,” the NS8 employee rights class action lawsuit argues.
Rosenberg seeks to represent a Class of NS8 workers who were terminated without cause on or within 90 days of Sept. 11, 2020.
Have your employee rights been violated by your employer? Share your story in the comment section below.
Rosenberg and the proposed Class are represented by Chirstopher D. Liozides of Liozides PA and Rene S. Roupinian and Jack A. Raisner of Raisner Roupinian LLP.
The NS8 Employee Rights Class Action Lawsuit is Joshua Rosenberg v. NS8 Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-01238-UNA, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
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