Paramount Global is facing a lawsuit filed by ex-employees who were a part of the latest wave of companywide layoffs. The lawsuit was filed in the New York federal court on October 3rd as a class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges Paramount failed to give over 300 employees proper notice of their termination. According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, employees should be given at least a 90 day notice of a mass layoff. The company has since denied these allegations, stating the employees entitled to Federal or State WARN notice received it.
Paramount began “phase two” of their plan to cut 15 percent of their U.S. based workforce on September 24th. This effort is in pursuit of upwards of $500 million in cost savings for the company. Co-CEOs George Cheeks, Brian Robbins, and Chris McCarthy have stated 90 percent of the company’s layoffs have been completed. Their memo regarding the layoffs was as follows:
“Like the entire Media industry, we are working to accelerate streaming profitability while at the same time adjusting to the evolving landscape in our traditional businesses.”
The first phase of layoffs took place early September, which included Paramount TV Studios and a number of high-profile executives.
More into the Lawsuit
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Julian Hagins as a class action lawsuit. It states roughly 295 employees working at New York headquarters and 50 employees in surrounding worksites were terminated. The terminated workers are seeking wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, and benefits over a 60-day period. The lawsuit states the employees would have received these things if Paramount complied with the law.
Under the federal version of the law, companies with more than 100 employees must give notice prior to a layoff, should it affect more than 500 people. However, it does vary state to state, some areas have stricter guidelines for employers. For example, in California, companies with 75 or more workers requires a notice for a layoff of 50 or more within a 30-day period. New York, on the other hand, requires notice should the layoff impact a third of the workforce or at least 250 employees at a single site.
The typical penalty for violating the law includes back wages and benefits, in addition to a civil penalty.
