Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Closing: Class Action Says Furniture Co. Failed to Provide Proper Notice Before Layoffs

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Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams faces a proposed class action that alleges the high-end North Carolina furniture seller failed to provide at least 60 days’ advance written notice prior to laying off roughly 700 employees amid the company’s abrupt closure in August 2023. 

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The 10-page complaint alleges The Mitchell Gold Co., LLC ran afoul of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act when it terminated hundreds of workers who reported to its Taylorsville, Statesville and Hiddenite, North Carolina facilities, and some who worked from home, without proper warning around August 25. 

According to media reports, a sign taped to the Taylorsville factory gate read “Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams has recently and unexpectedly learned that we are unable to continue business operations.” Per Quartz, workers were asked “not to report to work from Monday (Aug. 28) onwards.” 

CNN reports that the company, which grew from a local upholstery maker to a national retail chain, cited weak sales and difficulty securing financing as the reasons for its shuttering.

Though Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams was purchased in 2015 by an Arkansas-based private equity firm, which said it recently put $20 million into restructuring the company, the associated lender, according to Law360, “withdrew its support,” forcing the furniture seller to cease operations. 

The lawsuit alleges that the defendant failed to pay workers their respective wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, and accrued holiday and vacation pay for 60 days following their respective terminations, and failed to make the appropriate 401(k) and pension contributions and provide health insurance for that time. 

Per the suit, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams is subject to WARN Act requirements since the company employed 100 or more people who, in aggregate, worked at least 4,000 hours per week, exclusive of overtime, and employed more than 50 workers at each facility. 

Despite the allegations presented in the proposed class action, Quartz reports, citing a letter from CEO Chris Moye, that terminated employees will be paid wages “through their last day on Oct. 25,” although health insurance “will run out a lot sooner on Aug. 31.” 

The Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams layoffs come amid significant turbulence within the furniture industry. Ashley Furniture Industries and United Furniture Industries executed layoffs within the last year, Quartz says.

The lawsuit looks to cover all employees who worked at Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams’ facilities and were fired as part of a mass layoff and/or plant closing ordered by The Mitchell Gold Co., LLC on or about August 25, 2023 and thereafter. 

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