Kemper Corporation Failed to Provide Proper Notice of January 2024 Mass Layoff, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims Kemper Corporation illegally laid off over 100 employees in January 2024 without providing proper advance notice.

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The 15-page lawsuit accuses the Chicago-based insurance company of violating the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, a federal law that requires companies to give employees at least 60 days’ advance written notice prior to a mass layoff or plant closing.

The plaintiffs, two former Kemper employees impacted by the mass layoff, claim the defendant sent an email on January 17, 2024 informing them that their termination would be effective February 1, just 15 days later.

By doing so, Kemper deprived affected workers and their families of necessary “transition time” to adjust and pursue other job opportunities, the case alleges.

The complaint argues that Kemper will likely claim the mass layoff was due to an “unforeseeable business circumstance,” such as inflation or financial issues, making it exempt from the WARN Act’s requirements. However, according to the suit, the company “was not suffering any sudden, dramatic, or unexpected conditions outside of its control.”

“To the contrary, [Kemper] was financially thriving and no conditions or circumstances existed that would have prevented it from providing the named plaintiffs and the putative class with sixty (60) days of notice, prior to its mass layoff of them,” the filing contends.

The lawsuit cites a February 2024 press release in which Kemper CEO Joseph P. Lacher, Jr. admitted that the company “closed 2023 with a return to profitability” and “exceeded expectations” during the fourth quarter of last year—right before the mass layoff occurred.

The case alleges the termination email Kemper sent employees cannot be considered a compliant WARN Act notice because it lacked mandatory information regarding the specific details of the mass layoff. What’s more, it provided affected employees with a “grossly insufficient” severance offer of only two weeks’ pay, the complaint relays.

According to the suit, Kemper owes affected individuals their respective wages, benefits and health insurance coverage they would have received for 60 days following their terminations.

The lawsuit looks to represent any former Kemper Corporation employees in the United States who were not given a minimum of 60 days’ written notice of termination and whose employment was terminated on or about January 17, 2024, or within 30 days thereof, as a result of a “mass layoff” as defined by the WARN Act.

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