Bankrupt trucker Celadon told laid off employees that they've lost health insurance and won't receive unused vacation time pay — read the full letter here
- The trucking giant Celadon declared bankruptcy on December 8, according to federal filings.
- That leaves about 3,800 employees suddenly jobless weeks before Christmas. Of those, 1,300 have mostly administrative, nondriving tasks. The majority work in Celadon's Indianapolis, Indiana, headquarters.
- An internal document shared with Business Insider reveals that Celadon immediately ended health insurance for those approximately 1,300 employees.
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This week has brought the largest bankruptcy in truckload history — Celadon Group Inc., which was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company filed for bankruptcy on December 8 and announced it would close its doors.
"We have diligently explored all possible options to restructure Celadon and keep business operations ongoing, however, a number of legacy and market headwinds made this impossible to achieve," said Paul Svindland, CEO of Celadon, in a statement.
Rumors of a bankruptcy started to fly Friday night when the trucking industry publication FreightWaves published that the company was slated to file for Chapter 11. Sources told Business Insider that Celadon truckers' fuel cards were shut off and that they feared being stranded.
Meanwhile, back in Indianapolis, some 1,300 Celadon employees at the company's headquarters learned what the bankruptcy would mean for them, and their family.
Celadon employees were told in a letter obtained by Business Insider that:
- Their paycheck will include wages earned through December 7.
- They qualify for unemployment payments.
- They will not receive unused vacation time payouts.
- They are not receiving medical, dental, or vision insurance as of midnight on December 8 — a day before they learned that they were getting laid off.
- Employees should file for health insurance provided under the federal COBRA program that allows the recently-unemployed to remain covered.
Read more: A truckload giant just filed for bankruptcy, and it leaves nearly 3,000 truck drivers jobless
Celadon did not file a notice in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act — a federal law that stipulates that companies need to alert employees 60 days in advance of mass layoffs or plant closings.
However, Celadon may argue that the a 60-day notification was not possible due to "unforeseeable business circumstances" resulting in the bankruptcy, which excuses companies from filing a WARN report.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two former Celadon executives following a multiyear accounting scandal.
The news plunged Celadon's stock to $0.41 a share on Friday — a considerable tumble from the more than $20 a share that the stock was worth in 2015 before the accounting scandal became public knowledge. As of Monday, share prices were at $0.03.
Read the full letter here
Do you work for Celadon? Are you a shipper who used Celadon? Email rpremack@businessinsider.com.
Read more about the trucking recession of 2019:
Truckers are becoming more and more pessimistic about the US economy
'I don't know how long I can stay in business': Truckers' fears have soared to recession-level highs
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