2 employees file lawsuit on behalf of thousands losing jobs as Earth Fare closes

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    ASHEVILLE, NC (WLOS ) — Thousands of grocery store workers got bad news this week when Earth Fare announced it would close all 50 stores, killing off jobs across the U.S. and many here in the mountains.

But suddenly, there is some resistance.

Two employees are going to bat for more than 3,000 others.

A class-action lawsuit filed Friday claims Earth Fare broke a federal law intended to protect workers when large-scale employers go out of business.

The lawsuit was filed by two women — one from Johnson City, Tennessee, and the other from St. Johns, Florida. Their lawsuit is attached to Earth Fare’s bankruptcy filing in hopes of getting some financial relief before the creditors do.

“It takes a lot to step up to, you know, all the adversity that’s going on,” Jeff Swart said while taking a break outside the Asheville store, the store where he won’t be working much longer.

He’s heard about the legal action brought by a couple fellow employees he does not even know.

“Two in 3,500. I wouldn’t be able to do it, I wouldn’t have the backbone, I wouldn’t know where to start,” Swart said.

But Kelsi Cornett and Amy Hile did, finding lawyers to claim violation of the WARN Act that requires employers with at least 100 workers to give written notice at least 60 days in advance of layoffs.

The lawsuit seeks two months worth of unpaid wages, back holiday and vacation time and 401(k) contributions, just to name a few.

Earth Fare already owes millions of dollars to banks and unpaid vendors.

Experts said what happened to this Asheville original is not a surprise, it’s just simply the way our economy works.

“As the hunch players will tell you, the pioneers take all the arrows, but the settlers make all the money,” Western Carolina University economics professor Edward Lopez said.

What he means is Earth Fare got in early and found a niche in organic foods. But, others eventually followed the leader and the marketplace finally caught up.

“I’ve think what we’ve seen over the past 25 years is new ideas have come into play, new national chains have come into our area and the competition has gotten tougher,” Lopez said.

And while Earth Fare is now a coast-to-coast chain going under, Lopez believes the closure still hits hardest close to home.

“It’s definitely a big hit to Asheville and our economy, and losing that headquarters, losing that unique part of our signature as an economy, it’s not going to get replaced anytime soon,” he said.

Four days ago, Earth Fare announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stating all employees were notified under the same WARN Act cited in the lawsuit against the company.

Effort to get a comment from Earth Fare officials were unsuccessful.

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