We welcome you to JobBank USA and hope your job hunting experience
is a pleasant one. We hope you find our resources useful.
August 22, 2007
WASHINGTON - HomeBanc Corp.'s abrupt layoff of more than 900 workers at the start of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has spurred some of the former workers to sue the fallen mortgage lender.
In a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., three of the company's former workers said that the massive layoff violated employee rights under federal law.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN Act, requires that companies give their workers 60 days advance written notice before conducting widespread layoffs.
HomeBanc (nyse: HMB) failed to provide such notice and owes the dismissed workers 60 days of wages, bonuses, holiday and vacation pay, and other benefits, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed by Hiwot Mekonnen, Kyiesha Shepard and Sharon Thompson, on behalf of themselves and all other workers hit by the company's massive work force reduction.
A similar lawsuit was filed Aug. 9 in the Chapter 11 case of American Home Mortgage Investment (nyse: AHM) Corp., underway since Aug. 6 in the Delaware court.
Atlanta-based HomeBanc slashed its work force to about 184 employees when it entered Chapter 11 protection Aug. 9.
Before seeking bankruptcy shelter, the company announced that it would sell some retail mortgage operations to Countrywide Financial Corp. (nyse: CFC)
HomeBanc, in a court filing Tuesday, asked the bankruptcy court to approve the deal that would give Countrywide pools of mortgage loans with an unpaid principal balance of $238.1 million. About $110 million of the loans were paid for by, and transferred to, Countrywide prior to HomeBanc's Chapter 11 filing.
The deal calls for Countrywide to pay 101.08 percent of the unpaid principal balance for $138.1 million of the loans, and 101.67 percent for the remaining $100 million of the loans.
Numerous bids were, HomeBanc said, solicited before Countrywide's offer was selected as the best.
HomeBanc is asking that the court schedule a sale hearing for Aug. 27.
Email This Page!