Recently FTS International closed its Bryan Plant, letting go of 200 oil and energy workers. FTS International is an oil field service company that employees over 4,000 workers. The employees at Bryan Plant came in on Wednesday morning, on April 8th, and learned that they no longer had a job. The lack of notice is allegedly in violation of the WARN Act.
The WARN Act stands for the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, established to help employees adjust to the idea of having no work. According to the act, employers must give employees a 60 day notice of their termination. Companies with over 100 fulltime employees and who work under the private sector are usually covered by the WARN Act.
FTS International does fall under the WARN Act rules, and according the employees' claims, is in violation of the act for not giving their workers enough of a warning. The Bryan Plant is not the only facility to close. In Louisiana, around 127 employees lost their jobs in both Shreveport and Longview, with 89 workers at Shreveport and 38 workers in Longview being let go.
The company cites lack of business and falling oil prices as the main reasons for the layoffs. However, by failing to notify their employees in a timely manner, FTS International allegedly violated the WARN Act.
Former employee David Gray states:
You've always gotta try to be prepared because something like this it's just without warning and they didn't let us know. They didn't tell us anything we was laying off or shutting down. It just came out of the blue. We had work they gave it to another yard.
At Wyatt Law Firm, we take the rights of employees very seriously. With laws established to protect workers, we believe that employees should adhere to the law. FTS International allegedly failed to provide adequate notice for the employees they laid off, thus potentially going against the WARN Act. If you worked for this company or find yourself in a similar situation, contact Wyatt Law Firm firm today. Our experienced San Antonia WARN Act attorneys can review your case for free.