ASI denies claims in employee termination class action suit

Attorneys for ASI Ltd., which closed its doors in December, denied claims in an employee class action suit that calls for collection of unpaid wages and benefits. In the lawsuit, former employee Andrew Shepherd charges that ASI violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act that requires employers to provide at least 60 days' notice of plant closings or mass layoffs.

In its May 4 answer to the suit, ASI admits no written notice was issued prior to the plant closing, and admits that it did not pay employees for work after PNC Bank closed the plant on Dec. 22. However, the company denies that it violated the WARN Act.

"[ASI] is excused from the requirements of the WARN Act because ... the plant closing was caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable as of the time notice would have been required," ASI attorneys stated in its court response filing to the suit.

Additionally, "As of the time notice would have been required under the WARN Act ... [ASI] was actively seeking capital and business which, if obtained, would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone the shutdown, and ASI reasonably and in good faith believed that giving the notice required would have precluded the employer from obtaining the needed capital and/or business," according to ASI attorneys in the filing.