Weston Educational, Inc. Hit with Class Action Over Mass Layoffs

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Weston Educational, Inc., which operated for-profit vocational schools Heritage Institute, Heritage College and Missouri College, has been hit with a class action filed by former employees who claim they were fired without receiving at least 60 days advanced written notice as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act). Filed in Colorado, one of 10 Hertiage campus locations, the lawsuit looks to recover 60 days’ wages, as well as compensation equivalent to accrued vacation time, for the plaintiffs and class members who claim they were not paid for their final three weeks of employment.

On November 1, Heritage—described in the complaint as a “for-profit post-secondary school institution focused on allied health careers” whose largest program trained veterinary students—announced it would be permanently ending its operations because of severe financial problems. At a meeting at its Denver facility, the company’s chief executive, Earl Weston, alerted employees to Weston Educational’s financial situation, but gave no indication, the complaint says, that the entire business would close and they would lose their jobs.

The proposed class covers anyone who worked at one of Heritage’s facilities and was terminated without cause on or within 30 days of November 1, 2016. The lawsuit also includes state-specific subclasses to address the alleged state wage law violations.