From: San Antonio Express-News
Patrick Danner, Staff writer
Updated: Nov. 1, 2021 1:32 p.m.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in San Antonio has certified a class-action lawsuit against aircraft-modification company GDC Technics over its termination of about 250 workers earlier this year at Port San Antonio and in Fort Worth.
… a former engineer at GDC’s Fort Worth facility, had sued GDC alleging she and other workers were not given 60 days’ advance notice of their termination as required by federal law.
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Judge Craig Gargotta on Friday gave several reasons in ruling why the lawsuit was “appropriate for class certification.”
Fort Worth-based GDC’s plan of reorganization already has been approved and the date for creditors to submit proofs of claim has passed, Gargotta noted.
“As such, the traditional bankruptcy proofs of claim process is inferior to this class-action,” the judge said.
Moreover, he said, if the complaint was not certified, the laid-off workers would “be forced to choose whether to bring their ‘negative value’ suits as individual adversary proceedings.” A negative value lawsuit is one where the litigation costs exceed any likely recovery.
Court records don’t establish each worker’s wages and benefits, but the value of the maximum of 60 days’ wages and benefits is likely “relatively low,” Gargotta said. Same goes for the paid time off, he said.
GDC notified the Texas Workforce Commission on April 9 that it had issued pink slips to 56 workers at Port San Antonio and 120 employees in Fort Worth. GDC’s chief executive, however, had put the number of terminated workers at more than 200 in a court filing.
The terminations came after Boeing Co. dropped GDC from contracts on April 7. GDC had been performing work for Boeing on Air Force One jets that will transport U.S. presidents. About two-thirds of GDC’s workforce supported the Boeing contracts, GDC said in a September court filing.
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… sued GDC for allegedly violating the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. It requires employers who institute mass layoffs to give workers at least 60 days’ advance written notice of their termination. GDC failed to give written notice that complied with the WARN Act, according to Stringham’s suit.
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GDC opposed the class certification, arguing it was not appropriate given “individual circumstances will predominate over issues to be decided on a class-wide basis.”
Attorneys for both sides didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
In May, GDC received bankruptcy court approval to assign its lease at Port San Antonio, 607 N. Frank Luke Drive, to Boeing. The assignment resolved a $1.7 million claim for unpaid rent owed to the Port Authority of San Antonio.