WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — United Furniture Industries laid off more employees.
The Associated Press reports that United Furniture Industries, based in Okolona, Miss., makes furniture under its brand and the Lane Home Furnishings brand, which it acquired in 2017 from Heritage Home Group LLC for an undisclosed sum. Lane was founded in 1912 in Virginia and merged with Tupelo-based Action Industries in 1972.
Furniture Today, a trade publication, reported that United fired its chief executive, chief financial officer, and executive vice president of sales in June. It then named Todd Evans, the former president of Standard Furniture, an Alabama-based company, as its new chief executive.
In addition to eight plants in Mississippi, United also had six plants in North Carolina and one in California. Layoffs took place at the North Carolina and California locations as well.
Employees woke up to a text message sent from the company Monday night stating the following:
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM UFI/LANE. PLEASE READ: We ask that all employees not report to their work locations tomorrow November 22, 2022. Over-the-road drivers, whether or not you have completed your delivery, please immediately return the equipment, inventory, and delivery documents for those deliveries that have been completed to one of the following locations: Winston-Salem, NC, Verona, MS, or Victorville, CA. To be clear, do not complete any additional deliveries. Additional information will be provided tomorrow morning. Please be patient and we will proactively communicate when additional information is available.
Then, employees received another message Tuesday morning:
At the instruction of the Board of Directors of United Furniture Industries, Inc. and all subsidiaries (the "Company"), we regret to inform you that due to unforeseen business circumstances the Company has been forced to make the difficult decision to terminate the employment of all its employees, effective immediately, on November 21, 2022, with the exception of over-the-road drivers that are out on delivery. Your layoff from the Company is expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without the provision of COBRA. Over-the-road drivers that are out on delivery will be paid for the balance of the week. Whether or not you have completed your delivery, please immediately return the equipment, inventory, and delivery documents for those deliveries that have been completed to one of the following locations: Winston-Salem, NC, Verona, MS, or Victorville, CA location. To be clear, do not complete any additional deliveries. We regret that this difficult and unexpected situation has made this necessary. Additional information will be provided shortly. Thank you for your service and dedication.
WFMY reached out to the North Carolina Department of Commerce to see if a WARN notice was filed ahead of the layoffs. The department said, "we’re hearing reports from people who are being impacted by the situation, and the state and local teams in the local NCWorks Career Centers are already responding and helping people."
According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the WARN process is governed by federal law.
The department said that not every company must file a WARN, depending on the circumstances of their particular situation.
How filing a WARN notice works according to the N.C. Department of Commerce:
A federal law, the WARN Act, governs the process for filing a notice. The act seeks to protect workers, their families, and their communities by requiring employers to provide 60 days advance notice of certain plant closings and mass layoffs. Businesses that employ at least 100 workers, excluding part-time workers, are required to file a WARN notice if they are preparing to take one of the following actions:
- Close a plant that affects at least 50 employees during any 30-day period. (This does not include workers who have worked less than six months during the last year or employees who work less than an average of 20 hours a week.)
- Conduct a mass layoff of at least 500 employees, or a layoff impacting between 50-499 employees when that number represents at least one-third of the employer’s workforce.
You must file your WARN notice with the following:
- All affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union)
- The North Carolina Division of Workforce Solutions, a unit of the N.C. Department of Commerce
- The chief elected official of the unit of local government where the site is located
After filing the WARN notice, our workforce Rapid Response team will contact you in 48 hours or less, to assist your workers and your Human Resources staff.
Ashely Home Furniture was out at the Winston-Salem facility Tuesday, making sure the employees who are now without a job, won't be for too long.
“We are just here to offer jobs. Ashley has open positions in manufacturing, distribution, transportation, and administration. We do daily on-site interviews you can come by our Advance recruiting office. We offer competitive pay and benefits and we know there’s a lot of people out here looking for jobs right now around the holidays so we are just here to show our support,“ Chris Fox, driver recruiter for Ashley Home Furniture said.