Thanksgiving Layoff of Thousands in Mississippi Leaves Families in Shock and Uncertainty

Jeff Jones in 2022. Courtesy of Jacqueline Savoy Photography

Jeff Jones’s priorities after getting laid off from Lane Furniture in Beldon, Mississippi, just two days before Thanksgiving are to find health insurance, a new job, and to sign on to a class-action lawsuit that could help him get severance pay from the company.

Jones was among thousands of employees whom United Furniture Industries (UFI) fired by text or email in Mississippi, North Carolina, and California, at midnight on Nov. 21, 2022.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told The Epoch Times. “This is a blow to every employee, especially during the holidays.”

Jones worked for Lane Furniture, a subsidiary of UFI, for 30 years under its various ownerships.

For the first time that he can remember, employees had been told that they would have the whole week off for Thanksgiving, instead of just Thursday and Friday.

UFI had even given a company turkey to all its employees, he said.

When he walked out for the last time on Friday, he recalled that there was incomplete furniture still on the conveyer belts, with Jones having no clue that he wouldn’t be returning.

Jones wasn’t subscribed to the company email, so he got the news from his line leader by a text on Tuesday that said, “We don’t have a job anymore.”

He then forwarded the email to Jones, which stated that “due to unforeseen business circumstances the Company has been forced to make the difficult decision to terminate the employment of all its employees, effective immediately, on November 21, 2022, with the exception of over-the-road drivers that are out on delivery.”

“Your layoff from the Company is expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without provision of COBRA,” the email said.

It then asked for all drivers to return the equipment.

“We regret that this difficult and unexpected situation has made this necessary,” the email said.

Failure to WARN

According to a class-action lawsuit against UFI filed by the Mississippi-based Hearn Law Firm in the Aberdeen Division of the Northern District Court of Mississippi, the company failed to provide 60 days’ notice to the estimated 3,500 employees in Mississippi alone, thus violating the Worker Adjustment Relocation Notification (WARN) Act of 1988.

“It’s one of the worse things I’ve ever seen in my 30 years of practicing law,” Philip Hearn with Hearn Law Firm told The Epoch Times. “This has wiped out whole families.”

The WARN Act requires companies to give employees 60 days’ notice of termination or 60 days’ severance pay.

A spokesperson with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security told The Epoch Times that UFI had filed its WARN on Nov. 28.

When asked if that would make a difference, Hearn said it was “a day late and a dollar short.”

“That will have no legal impact,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Short on Supplies

To check off his newly revised and more immediate to-do list, Jones will be attending Hearn’s in-house contract signing in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Nov. 29.

Though he didn’t see this coming, Jones said the factory had come up short on supplies over the last few years.

“Running out of things like nuts, bolts, and electrical equipment has been an ongoing problem, but here lately we’ve gone two or three weeks longer without getting replenished,” he said.

Though UFI said in its email to its employees that it would provide more information “shortly,” it’s yet to give more details and hasn’t responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

Turning Loss Into Opportunity

Jones, like other families have reported, is concerned, and other employees have had their own reactions.

One former employee, 37-year-old Audrey Garth, was arrested for the charge of grand larceny after allegedly stealing a company truck loaded with furniture on Nov. 22.

“I understand his frustration, but that’s just stupid,” Jones said.

Jones has chosen to turn this into an opportunity rather than a loss, he said.

At 55, he was 10 years away from retirement. He had already begun working on his retirement plan seven years ago with his social media reviews of local restaurants in the Tupelo area. He called it “Eating Out with Jeff Jones.”

“When I read restaurant reviews, I always wished people would include more details, so I just thought, ‘I’ll do it myself,’” he said. “I came up with a name and started going out to all the local restaurants.”

Over time, he accumulated over 26,000 followers and has started a sponsorship plan.

“In this downtime between seeing the lawyer, finding new health insurance, trying to find a new day job, I’m able to hit the ground running with ‘Eating Out with Jeff Jones,’ which was originally my retirement plan,” he said. “I’ve had to move my plan up about nine years and a few months.”

Still, it’s a scary, uncertain time, he said.

The people with whom he worked had become like family, he said, and now that family has been scattered and trying to stay afloat through the holidays.

“But we live in a great community, and support has been pouring in,” he said. “It’s a difficult time, but we are truly blessed.”