I said this the other day - every time the TRex money pit starts requiring more cash, employees are let go. Here we are on moving day, and sure enough, we've lost more people.
There's a full transcript of the memo that was sent to us detailing the reasons behind the layoffs in the comments section of the post underneath this one.
For all of you who have received the axe today, I strongly encourage you to do the following before signing your separation agreements:
- Gain a full understanding of your rights as a terminated employee, including the WARN Act
- Get a due date for FNLC to send you your final severance package and COBRA info
- Make sure your 401K contributions will be honored
- Demand full documentation of your final payments, including all deductions
- Make note of when your health benefits expire
Anyhow, now you know how FNLC can pay for TRex. I wonder what will happen when next month's rent is due?
22 comments:
U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Fact Sheet
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
A Guide to Advance Notice of Closings and Layoffs
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The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) was enacted on August 4, 1988 and became effective on February 4, 1989.
General Provisions
WARN offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government.
Employer Coverage
In general, employers are covered by WARN if they have 100 or more employees, not counting employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months and not counting employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week. Private, for-profit employers and private, nonprofit employers are covered, as are public and quasi-public entities which operate in a commercial context and are separately organized from the regular government. Regular Federal, State, and local government entities which provide public services are not covered.
Employee Coverage
Employees entitled to notice under WARN include hourly and salaried workers, as well as managerial and supervisory employees. Business partners are not entitled to notice.
What Triggers Notice
Plant Closing: A covered employer must give notice if an employment site (or one or more facilities or operating units within an employment site) will be shut down, and the shutdown will result in an employment loss (as defined later) for 50 or more employees during any 30-day period. This does not count employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months or employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week for that employer. These latter groups, however, are entitled to notice (discussed later).
Mass Layoff: A covered employer must give notice if there is to be a mass layoff which does not result from a plant closing, but which will result in an employment loss at the employment site during any 30-day period for 500 or more employees, or for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the employer's active workforce. Again, this does not count employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months or employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week for that employer. These latter groups, however, are entitled to notice (discussed later).
An employer also must give notice if the number of employment losses which occur during a 30-day period fails to meet the threshold requirements of a plant closing or mass layoff, but the number of employment losses for 2 or more groups of workers, each of which is less than the minimum number needed to trigger notice, reaches the threshold level, during any 90-day period, of either a plant closing or mass layoff. Job losses within any 90-day period will count together toward WARN threshold levels, unless the employer demonstrates that the employment losses during the 90-day period are the result of separate and distinct actions and causes.
Sale of Businesses
In a situation involving the sale of part or all of a business, the following requirements apply. (1) In each situation, there is always an employer responsible for giving notice. (2) If the sale by a covered employer results in a covered plant closing or mass layoff, the required parties (discussed later) must receive at least 60 days notice. (3) The seller is responsible for providing notice of any covered plant closing or mass layoff which occurs up to and including the date/time of the sale. (4) The buyer is responsible for providing notice of any covered plant closing or mass layoff which occurs after the date/time of the sale. (5) No notice is required if the sale does not result in a covered plant closing or mass layoff. (6) Employees of the seller (other than employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months or employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week) on the date/time of the sale become, for purposes of WARN, employees of the buyer immediately following the sale. This provision preserves the notice rights of the employees of a business that has been sold.
Employment Loss
The term "employment loss" means:
(1) An employment termination, other than a discharge for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement;
(2) a layoff exceeding 6 months; or
(3) a reduction in an employee's hours of work of more than 50% in each month of any 6-month period.
Exceptions: An employee who refuses a transfer to a different employment site within reasonable commuting distance does not experience an employment loss. An employee who accepts a transfer outside this distance within 30 days after it is offered or within 30 days after the plant closing or mass layoff, whichever is later, does not experience an employment loss. In both cases, the transfer offer must be made before the closing or layoff, there must be no more than a 6 month break in employment, and the new job must not be deemed a constructive discharge. These transfer exceptions from the "employment loss" definition apply only if the closing or layoff results from the relocation or consolidation of part or all of the employer's business.
Exemptions
An employer does not need to give notice if a plant closing is the closing of a temporary facility, or if the closing or mass layoff is the result of the completion of a particular project or undertaking. This exemption applies only if the workers were hired with the understanding that their employment was limited to the duration of the facility, project or undertaking. An employer cannot label an ongoing project "temporary" in order to evade its obligations under WARN.
An employer does not need to provide notice to strikers or to workers who are part of the bargaining unit(s) which are involved in the labor negotiations that led to a lockout when the strike or lockout is equivalent to a plant closing or mass layoff. Non-striking employees who experience an employment loss as a direct or indirect result of a strike and workers who are not part of the bargaining unit(s) which are involved in the labor negotiations that led to a lockout are still entitled to notice.
An employer does not need to give notice when permanently replacing a person who is an "economic striker" as defined under the National Labor Relations Act.
Who Must Receive Notice
The employer must give written notice to the chief elected officer of the exclusive representative(s) or bargaining agency(s) of affected employees and to unrepresented individual workers who may reasonably be expected to experience an employment loss. This includes employees who may lose their employment due to "bumping," or displacement by other workers, to the extent that the employer can identify those employees when notice is given. If an employer cannot identify employees who may lose their jobs through bumping procedures, the employer must provide notice to the incumbents in the jobs which are being eliminated. Employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months and employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week are due notice, even though they are not counted when determining the trigger levels.
The employer must also provide notice to the State dislocated worker unit and to the chief elected official of the unit of local government in which the employment site is located.
Notification Period
With three exceptions, notice must be timed to reach the required parties at least 60 days before a closing or layoff. When the individual employment separations for a closing or layoff occur on more than one day, the notices are due to the representative(s), State dislocated worker unit and local government at least 60 days before each separation. If the workers are not represented, each worker's notice is due at least 60 days before that worker's separation.
The exceptions to 60-day notice are:
(1) Faltering company. This exception, to be narrowly construed, covers situations where a company has sought new capital or business in order to stay open and where giving notice would ruin the opportunity to get the new capital or business, and applies only to plant closings;
(2) unforeseeable business circumstances. This exception applies to closings and layoffs that are caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time notice would otherwise have been required; and
(3) Natural disaster. This applies where a closing or layoff is the direct result of a natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, drought or storm.
If an employer provides less than 60 days advance notice of a closing or layoff and relies on one of these three exceptions, the employer bears the burden of proof that the conditions for the exception have been met. The employer also must give as much notice as is practicable. When the notices are given, they must include a brief statement of the reason for reducing the notice period in addition to the items required in notices.
Form and Content of Notice
No particular form of notice is required. However, all notices must be in writing. Any reasonable method of delivery designed to ensure receipt 60 days before a closing or layoff is acceptable.
Notice must be specific. Notice may be given conditionally upon the occurrence or non-occurrence of an event only when the event is definite and its occurrence or nonoccurrence will result in a covered employment action less than 60 days after the event.
The content of the notices to the required parties is listed in section 639.7 of the WARN final regulations. Additional notice is required when the date(s) or 14-day period(s) for a planned plant closing or mass layoff are extended beyond the date(s) or 14-day period(s) announced in the original notice.
Record
No particular form of record is required. The information employers will use to determine whether, to whom, and when they must give notice is information that employers usually keep in ordinary business practices and in complying with other laws and regulations.
Penalties
An employer who violates the WARN provisions by ordering a plant closing or mass layoff without providing appropriate notice is liable to each aggrieved employee for an amount including back pay and benefits for the period of violation, up to 60 days. The employer's liability may be reduced by such items as wages paid by the employer to the employee during the period of the violation and voluntary and unconditional payments made by the employer to the employee.
An employer who fails to provide notice as required to a unit of local government is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for each day of violation. This penalty may be avoided if the employer satisfies the liability to each aggrieved employee within 3 weeks after the closing or layoff is ordered by the employer.
Enforcement
Enforcement of WARN requirements is through the United States district courts. Workers, representatives of employees and units of local government may bring individual or class action suits. In any suit, the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs.
Information
Specific requirements of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act may be found in the Act itself, Public Law 100-379 (29 U.S.C. 210l, et seq.) The Department of Labor published final regulations on April 20, 1989 in the Federal Register (Vol. 54, No. 75). The regulations appear at 20 CFR Part 639.
General questions on the regulations may be addressed to:
U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Office of Work-Based Learning
Room N-5426
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210
(202) 219-5577
Is laying off 8% of FNLC's support staff the way for "improving our products, services, and internal efficiencies"? Underwriting times on the West Coast just went up to 72 hours. Does anyone really beleive this nonsense?
Message from the Chairman
Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for First NLC. Over the past few months we have been working diligently on improving our products, services, and internal efficiencies to better serve our wholesale broker network.
We have officially moved into our brand new 120,000 square foot corporate headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. From our new offices, we will be able to respond more rapidly, react to market changes more effectively, and manage more efficiently.
This move, along with our recent launch of FIRSTQUAL™, our state of the art, online loan prequalification engine, puts us at the forefront of our industry. To access FirstQual go to https://broker.firstnlc.com for 24/7, instant prequal determinations.
We believe you will find the new First NLC to be very competitive and your experience with us will be positive and productive. We look forward to working with you and invite you to contact us at our new location.
Neal Henschel
Chairman and CEO
First NLC
Leadership at the company is either completely dillusional or outright liars. Either way, it's not good.
What is "new" about First NLC besides the fact that this company recently moved into its new building creating more expense while laying off 8% of the support staff? My question: Are the executives going to take over the workload of the laid off workers? If not, who is going to do the work that these people were doing? Or is there not enough work to justify their jobs? If there was not enough work to justify these job, how is the rent going to be paid on two buildings?
There office are not even finished yet. Workers are still constructing the offices as of Monday. Brilliant move so far.
How efficent can you be if the staff has to work around construction.
I am just curious as to what he means by "competitive". I see AE's having to ask for rate exceptions of 2 to 3 points off FNLC rates just to compete on a deal.
Stay positive?
I was 1 of the 8%. The thing is that business was just starting to improve when this move was made. I don't know how they are going to afford this new place
to 1poorbastard: I hope you receive all the money that is due and I wish you luck in your job search. Perception is not necessarily reality. FBR will be releasing it's quarterly figures around the end of the month and then there will be no question as to how NLC is actually doing. Most loans are written between March through October. If this company does not make enough money during this period to support the slow period, the FBR will have to absorb bigger losses and their stock will continue to slide. Their competition is tough and I believe the companies that are more likely to survive are companies that were much healthier going into the slowdown.
I hope they go bankrupt
To 1poorbastard: People have to live with themselves do not let bad management affect your perception of the company and the people who work there. Take the good from the experience and don't look back. Being laid off might be a blessing. You don't have to wake up every morning wondering do I have a job. This type of stress can be worse than being laid off. Still being on the payroll is in my opinion a lot worse. Not only are you expected to take on extra work, but you also have this little voice saying "why should I work so hard when I may be laid off tomorrow." And "why should I work so hard for managers who don't give a rats a** about me. I am just another employee. Being on the payroll and unappreciated is much worse. At least you can move on.
Good luck!
to fiesty: I see your point and it may be a valid one, however, job market is very thin in this industry. I'd much rather be earning my salary which is going to be pretty tough to match.
To 1poorbastard: Maybe you should consider making this the last chapter of this novel in your life and begin a new adventure. By this I mean maybe there is some other field you might enjoy more or you might want to consider moving to another part of the country where the market is better. Money doesn't buy love, happiness, health, etc. Why would you want to line the pockets of a management team who doesn't care about you for a paycheck? You should do something you enjoy or work for people who appreciate and respect their employees.
To 1poorbastard: Let me share a chapter in my life. I was dating this person I was crazy about and this person put money over a relationship and someone who cared ceeply. A job came along in another state and this person choose money and career over our relationship. This person went to work for a management team very similar to the one we work for at First NLC. Shortly after this person started the job, I believe this person realized the price of money. Now this person is unemployed again and sometimes I wonder if the money made was worth it. Even though this person left and choose something else over me, I don't wish this person harm and even though there is a part deep inside me that wishes this person would move back and we could try to put our rlationship back together again, I am not sitting around waiting.
My advise to you is: there are more important things in life than money. Maybe you should find something that will fulfill you and forget about First NLC. Let management continue to run this company into the ground and be glad you have the opportunity to move on. Maybe the universe is sending you a message.
Whatever you choose, I wish you the best and I hope you find something that is more fulfilling.
Good luck!
What I should have said is from my personal experience I know that it is hard for a person to move on with their personal life as long as a person carries angry for the people who had control over his/her future. You have no control over the management and the decisions made good, bad, or indifferent just like I had no control over the love of my life leaving me for a job offer. You have to accept the fact that you were laid off, make sure you received everything that was owed to you and move on. If you can forgive it also helps the healing process. If you continue to hold angry then First NLC continues to win and this company still has control in your life. Take control back by moving on. Find a job where you will be happy and/or find happiness in your personal life.
1PB
The faster you realize you will not be landing another job with your current salary. Anytime soon. The better off you will be. The income is just not there currently in our market.
Over 12,000 people in the mortgage industry currently searching for work in the South Florida area is not fluke. It is the reality.
Pefect example I have a friend who is a hiring manager for a local mortgage company. Went and posted a postion on Monster has over 300 resumes within 24 hours.
Be open to ALL of your possible options.
Do you think your "hiring manager friend" can hook me up with a job?
Who know yours could have been one of them if you have been applying for jobs since your discharge.
I can not encougare you enough to get a real game plan going for yourself. I can tell you many of my friends that worked for a big lender that closed down and moved to the very same Boca office upon a merger back last Nov, are still not working in the mortgage industy.
When the Casino in Pompano held their job fair I read in the paper where 50% of the applicants were from the mortgage industry.
It took me 5 1/2 months from my departure from FNLC to find employment back in the mortgage industry with a SIGNIFICANT reduction in my salary I was making. But it offered benefits and paid me more than my unemployment that I was about to run out of. And being so close to my home I figure what I lost in salary I would be saving in fuel cost.
I would suggest seriously examine your resume. And look at all of the skills you possess and how they can apply to many industries outside of ours.
In these times you may find a second career to land in until the mortgage industry become more desirable.
if you think your WARN rights have been violated, check out http://masslayoff.com, a website maintained by WARN Act powerhouses, Outten & Golden and NKA
Im a former employee of the lending center and im still waiting on my w2's. i called the branch i used to work at and was instantly directed to some automated answering service, i left a message and my number. of course i havent gotten a call back nor did i expect one. im wondering if anyone else who worked for firstnlc or the lc is having this issue with getting there w2's as well? and if so any insight on how i might go about getting mine.
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