A Connecticut man is suing a Farmington-based company for lost wages and benefits after the business reportedly closed down without notifying employees.
Chris Kingsbury has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Ultimate Nutrition Inc., the makers of “Prostar” Whey Protein.
According to a filing in the Connecticut district of the U.S. District Court, a ‘mass layoff’ at Ultimate Nutrition Inc. that affected around 150 employees occurred on or around August 17.
Attorney Stuart Miller of Lankenau Miller LLP. will represent Kingsbury and other previous employees in court.
He said the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is the basis behind the lawsuit. Miller said, based on that legislation, Ultimate Nutrition should have given its employees written notice at least 60 days prior to shutting down effective August 17.
“Typically, we find that companies try and get cute and they give a last-minute notice and they say ‘well, it was unforeseeable and therefore, we have a defense.’ Or ‘we were a faltering company and we were trying to obtain financing and that’s a defense of the WARN Act,’" Miller said. “But here, they just didn’t do anything. They really didn’t even make an attempt to comply with the WARN Act.”
Miller said Kingsbury is seeking compensation for 60 days of lost wages and benefits.
Connecticut Public Radio attempted to contact Ultimate Nutrition Inc. -- headquartered on Hyde Road in Farmington -- for comment, but the company couldn’t be reached.
