2 file separate suits against Bill Heard

SCOTTSDALE - Former Bill Heard Chevrolet employees have sued the shuttered dealer, alleging it violated federal labor laws when it failed to give workers 60 days' notice that it was closing its dealerships.

Lawyers for Edward Kratzel, an automotive technician at Bill Heard's Las Vegas dealership, and Adam Kettell, an employee at the Huntsville, Ala., dealership, are vying for a class-action designation for their lawsuits. They also want Bill Heard to pay 60 days' wages and benefits to 2,000 employees laid off when it closed 14 dealerships nationwide.

Kretzel and the New York law firm of Outten & Golden LLP allege that the Columbus, Ga.-based auto dealer violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, act by abruptly closing its dealerships last month.

Kettell is represented by Morris, Conchin and King of Huntsville.

Bill Heard's Scottsdale dealership closed Sept. 12 and 148 employees were laid off.

Bill Heard Enterprises, once the nation's largest Chevrolet chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Sept. 28.

The lawsuit alleges that the company should have given employees 60 days' notice of the layoffs and should have continued paying wages and benefits during that period.

Both lawsuits were filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the northern district of Alabama, the same court that is handling the bankruptcy case.

A hearing on the class-action status is scheduled for Nov. 6.

The WARN act applies to plant closings or mass layoffs by businesses with 100 or more full-time employees, said Eric Dowell, managing shareholder in the Phoenix office of employment law firm Ogletree Deakins.

There are exceptions, though, that can spare employers from giving the required 60 days' notice. Among them are "unforeseeable business circumstances," such as natural disasters, Dowell said.

In a Sept. 10 letter to Scottsdale, Bill Heard Enterprises said it reduced the notification period "because the closing was necessitated by unexpectedly poor financial performance, recent adverse action by the dealership's lenders, and our inability to obtain sufficient financing, in a timely manner, to continue to operate the dealership."

Dowell, whose firm generally represents employers, said the class-action case could hinge on whether the company could foresee the financial troubles.

He also said that other law firms might vie for the right to represent Bill Heard employees in a class action. He advised laid-off workers to check out law firms before agreeing to join a case.

"If I was an employee, I would want to know their experience, just like hiring any other professional," he said.