DONNA J. LONG; JEFFREY TAYLOR; ARTHUR F. O'KELLY; LA WANDA A. MULLINAX; ELAINE MATHESON; STEPHEN E. KING; JANICE HOLLAND; LARRY HARRIS; JOAN GOLDSMITH; LINDA C. GILLIAM; ROBERT GAMBRELL; SUSAN B. ELLIOTT; ANTHONY DAVENPORT; MELISSA WHITFIELD; VONDA G. SMITH; TIMOTHY M. SMITH; BONNIE R. RAMEY; PAMELA K. POORE; RHONDA POORE; DOUG E. ADDIS; MARTY SMITH; FRED S. WOOD, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. DUNLOP SPORTS GROUP AMERICAS, INCORPORATED, a/k/a Dunlop Slazenger Group Americas, Incorporated; WESTMINSTER MANUFACTURING, LLC, a/k/a Dunlop Slazenger Manufacturing, LLC, Defendants-Appellees., 506 F.3d 299

Summary

Defendants ceased production at its golf ball manufacturing plant without prior notice of the shutdown. Defendants, however, provided notice of the shutdown at the time of the shutdown and for the next 60 days paid full wages and benefits to all but twenty-two employees. Defendants stopped payments to those twenty-two employees when they began full-time employment with another employer. Defendants argued that they provided the required WARN Act notification to its employees 60 days prior to any employment loss resulting from the plant closing and thus incurred no liability. The court affirmed. The court rejected plaintiffs' contention that the date of the plant shutdown had to coincide with the date of the employment loss and held that defendants' decision to pay all benefits and wages for 60 days without requiring work accorded with the language and purpose of the WARN Act. That decision did not constitute an "employment termination" for purposes of 29 U.S.C.S. § 2101(a)(6)(A). ...