Former Hoboken Workers Reach Settlement

Wayne, NJ, March 12, 2009--About 450 former Hoboken Wood Flooring workers who lost their jobs when the nation's largest wood-flooring distributor closed in November 2007 can expect relief under a federal law that protects workers against sudden termination.

The employees, who filed a class-action lawsuit against Hoboken Wood owner Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC, have reached a preliminary settlement with the Chicago-based private-equity firm, said Charles Ercole, an attorney representing the workers.

The case requires final court approval in late April, but the $1,050,000 settlement is expected to subsequently pay each employee about $2,000. Claimants are being notified by mail this week, said Ercole, an attorney with Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg & Ellers LLP in Philadelphia.

Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, businesses with 50 or more workers are required to give employees 60 days' written notice of company closings and mass layoffs in certain situations. The claimants worked at Hoboken Wood offices in Pequannock; Wayne; Stoughton, Mass., and Elkridge, Md.

Hoboken Wood had said the workers were exempt from the law because it was a troubled company looking for financing, an exemption built into the law to help businesses stay open rather than force them to disclose their problems — and possibly scare off lenders or investors.

At its height, Hoboken Wood had more than $550 million in sales, 1,000 employees and more than 20 locations. The 78-year-old company was sold to Code Hennessy to fund an expansion plan.