Tupelo, Mississippi (AP) — The Mississippi-based company, which has become one of the nation’s largest furniture businesses, laid off nearly all of its employees.
About 2,700 workers, mostly in the northeastern Mississippi, lost their jobs on Monday. Northeast Mississippi Diary.
Just days before the Thanksgiving holiday, United Furniture Industries sent a reminder to employees via email and text message late Monday night notifying them not to come to work on Tuesday’s shift.
In a second email, workers were informed that “the layoffs from the company are expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without COBRA being offered,” and to those who lost their jobs. It refers to federal laws that give employer-sponsored health choices. Insurance coverage in some cases.
Some employees were sound asleep When an email arrives in your inboxOthers never saw the email before heading to work. A company driver who was out on a delivery was told to immediately return to the United Furniture location to return the truck. I was.
The memo said the layoffs were made at the direction of the company’s board of directors and were due to “unforeseen business circumstances.” The memo did not give specific details about the cause of the layoffs.
The company’s communications team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Based in O’Corona, Michigan, United Furniture Industries manufactures furniture under its own brands and the Lane Home Furnishings brand, which it acquired from Heritage Home Group LLC in 2017 for an undisclosed amount. Lane was founded in Virginia in 1912 and merged with Tupelo-based Action Industries in 1972.
Furniture Today, industry publications, report United fired its chief executive officer, chief financial officer and vice president of sales in June. Then Todd, former president of Standard Furniture, an Alabama-based company, named Evans as the new CEO.
In addition to eight plants in Mississippi, United had six plants in North Carolina and one in California. Layoffs were also made at locations in North Carolina and California.