Courts split on right to jury under WARN Act

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted February 24, 2022 12:38 PM

Bayou Steel allegedly closed a steel mill in LaPlace, Louisiana, without giving its employees the 60-day notification required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. They demanded a jury trial when they sued Bayou and another company for the wages they lost because of the premature shutdown.The defendants moved to strike the demand, arguing there is no 7th Amendment right to a jury trial in WARN Act cases. Reviewing the split decisions on this issue, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier granted the …

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