CARMEL, Ind. ― Two employees laid off by the parent company of for-profit college chain ITT Technical Institute have filed a lawsuit claiming the company violated federal law by not providing 60 days’ notice.
Allen Federman, a business analyst at ITT Educational Services Inc.’s Carmel, Indiana, headquarters, and Steve Ryan, an instructor at two ITT Technical Institute locations in California, filed the complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of the 8,000 employees who are losing their jobs as a result of ITT’s decision to shut down all 130 ITT Technical Institute campuses in 38 states, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported.
ITT announced Tuesday it was closing the campuses because it cannot survive recent sanctions by the U.S. Department of Education.
The lawsuit claims ITT violated the federal Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act, which requires 60 days’ advance written notice in the case of mass layoffs or plant closings. The law affects employers with more than 100 employees and business sites with more than 50 workers. ITT Tech campuses with fewer than 50 employees might not be responsible for following the law.
The suit also claims the layoff violates California labor laws, which also require 60 days’ notice during mass layoffs. ITT Educational operated 15 ITT Tech campuses in California.
The lawsuit asks for each affected employee to receive “unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses” and other benefits that would have been paid over a 60-day period.
