Paramount Global violated New York’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act when the multinational conglomerate laid off 300 employees in September without the proper notice required by state law, a former employee has alleged in a class action lawsuit against the entertainment company.
The pending class action lawsuit, Hagins v. Paramount Global et al., filed in New York’s Southern District Court on Oct. 3, accuses the company of failing to provide lawful notice to their former employees. After a stint of layoffs in early September—one phase of an expansive effort to cut 15% of the company’s U.S.-based workforce in exchange for a prospective $500 million in cost savings—over 300 employees lost their jobs in less than a week without receiving any advanced notice.
According to provisions under the WARN Act, a labor law designed to protect workers, their families and communities, employers with 100 or more employees must provide 90-day written notice before executing planned closings or mass layoffs.
Under the federal version of the act, U.S. companies with 100 employees or more must provide layoff notice if it affects more than 500 individuals. In some states, guidelines for employers are becoming increasingly more stringent.
In California, any company with a workforce of 75 or more employees is mandated to provide notice within 30 days if the layoffs affect 50 or more workers.
In New York, written notice is required if the layoffs in question impact a third of the workforce or at least 250 employees at a single site, as is the case with Paramount.
This pending litigation calls attention to the need for major corporations and their industry counterparts to adhere to labor laws intended to prioritize worker stability over financial success."
In a report released by Paramount, an additional 349 employees are due to face termination from the company between Dec. 23 and Dec. 31, 2024, raising the number of impacted workers to nearly 1,000. Per the report, layoffs are far from over despite the pending litigation, with a set end date of Feb. 14.
The Department of Labor enacted the WARN Act in June 2023, requiring all businesses covered by the legislation to provide their workers with an early warning in order to secure future employment. Under that provision, the lawsuit seeks “relief sought herein on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated.”
Julian Hagins, a former full-time remote employee at Paramount who prompted the litigation in question, is also seeking summary judgment for himself and his co-workers, forcing his former employer to provide 60 days’ worth of “unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, pension, 401(k) and healthcare contributions and other benefits.”
A Paramount representative recently said the claims against the company “are not grounded in any fact,” stating that all company employees entitled to Federal or State WARN Act notices before being laid off received them.
The legal action Paramount Global currently faces stresses the necessity of federal and state legislation, such as the WARN Act, in defending workers in a post-COVID employment era where nothing is guaranteed.
This pending litigation calls attention to the need for major corporations and their industry counterparts to adhere to labor laws intended to prioritize worker stability over financial success.
The employment suit comes during a takeover transition in studio ownership, valued at $8 billion. It will likely delay the ongoing regulatory approvals necessary to quickly wrap up the already arduous process.
