Class Action Says Former Kroger Affiliate Quickway Owed Workers 60 Days’ Notice Before Shutting Down Louisville Terminal

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A proposed class action claims Quickway Transportation, Quickway Logistics and Paladin Capital unilaterally shut down their Louisville, Kentucky trucking terminal amid collective bargaining negotiations and without providing 60 days’ advance written notice to employees as required by law. 

The 11-page lawsuit alleges the defendants violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act when they executed on December 9, 2020 a mass layoff without properly informing their workforce beforehand. The suit says the layoff came as Quickway, a Kroger affiliate, and the employees’ union were scheduled to engage in further negotiations of the union’s first contract. Nevertheless, Quickway discussed closing the Louisville facility months before it occurred, according to the suit.

“Upon information and belief, Quickway began negotiating and/or planning the early, voluntary termination of its Carrier Services Agreement with Kroger several months before ceasing operations at the Louisville Facility,” the plaintiff alleges. 

Quickway specializes in direct-store deliveries of perishable or fragile food products, and boasts Kroger as a primary customer, the suit begins. According to the lawsuit, Quickway drivers at the company’s Louisville facility voted in June 2020 to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 89.

Nearly six months later, Quickway shuttered all operations at the Louisville facility after the company voluntarily axed its carrier services agreement with Kroger early, the case says. On December 9, 2020, Quickway employees received in their mailboxes a note that stated the company would cease operations in Louisville at 11 p.m., the complaint states. 

As the lawsuit tells it, Quickway informed its employees’ union reps that it would shut down the Louisville facility the same day it told workers they would be losing their jobs, and a day prior to a scheduled meeting with the union to resume collective bargaining negotiations for a first contract. The complaint states Quickway agreed at the conclusion of a previous bargaining session to provide the union with a “comprehensive response to the complete set proposals covering every item for inclusion to complete their first contract.” 

Quickway “repeatedly refused” to provide responses to the union’s proposals at the December 10 meeting or engage in any bargaining whatsoever to complete contract negotiations, the lawsuit alleges. On December 11, Quickway mailed a “lay-off notice” letter to employees, according to the complaint. 

The suit claims Quickway, given the number of employees in its operation, owed workers at least 60 days’ notice prior to closing its Louisville facility and terminating their jobs. The case alleges the termination of Quickway workers’ jobs was long in the works, as the defendants discussed the voluntary termination of the carrier service agreement with Kroger at least “several months” prior to shutting down. 

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