Cafaro examines KraftMaid layoffs

At issue: Whether notice should have been given

By CHRISTOPHER KROMER Tribune Chronicle
Following the layoff of approximately 400 workers from area cabinet maker KraftMaid Cabinetry on Friday, state Sen. Capri Cafaro said she is working with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to determine if laid-off workers were entitled to advance notice.

Under the provisions of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, enacted in 1988, employers with more than 100 employees generally must notify full-time workers of mass layoffs or closings 60 days in advance. Closings and layoffs related to unpredictable business circumstances and natural disasters may be exempted.

KraftMaid, which operates two facilities in Middlefield and one in Orwell, said its layoffs were due to market forces, specifically the struggling housing industry.

Cafaro, D-Hubbard, said prior notice would have been beneficial to workers.

‘‘Regardless, it would’ve been prudent to at least notify employees they were losing their positions,’’ Cafaro said. ‘‘It would give everyone ample time to plan, which is really the spirit of a W.A.R.N. notice.’’

The act defines a mass layoff as a layoff of six months or longer affecting 500 or more workers. Alternatively, a mass layoff could apply when an employer lays off 33 percent or more of its workers if the layoffs affect between 50 and 499 employees.

Kathleen Volks, spokeswoman for Masco Corp., KraftMaid’s parent company, would not give a precise number for layoffs Monday, saying only ‘‘approximately 400’’ positions had been eliminated.

Volks added that Masco measures employment figures across the corporation rather than at specific sites. She said that as far as she was aware, the company had not issued a W.A.R.N. notice.

According to the Masco Web site, the corporation employs about 52,000.

Patrick Arcaro, director of Ashtabula County Job and Family Services, said the agency had not received a W.A.R.N. notice from KraftMaid.

To provide assistance to laid-off workers, Arcaro said the agency has to wait for the company to make initial contact.

‘‘Once they do, we can actually step in and look for opportunities for training, resume writing and interviewing skills’’ for laid-off employees, Arcaro said.

The act gives sole enforcement and interpretation authority to United States district courts. Complaints are filed in the form of a district court lawsuit.

As of Friday afternoon, local work force investment employees had not received any official numbers from the company, according to Sara Hall Phillips, legislative liaison for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

‘‘We don’t have any additional recourse that we can offer them at the state level,’’ she said.

The state Department of Job and Family Services maintains a list of W.A.R.N. notices for the current year. In 2008, two Trumbull County businesses, GAE Warren, LLC and the GE Lighting Niles Glass Plant, have issued W.A.R.N. notices.



ckromer@tribune-chronicle.com