Fri, May 31, 2002
By Amy Kimmes
Wausau Daily Herald
akimmes@wdhprint.com
Plant worker files complaint
Company says state's 60-day rule doesn't apply
At least one employee of Marathon Press Inc. of Wausau has sent a written complaint to the state charging that the company's owner violated Wisconsin law by closing the plant without advance notice.
Marshall Lonsdorf, 43, who was the company's digital print manager, sent his complaint to the Department of Workforce Development this week. Lonsdorf said he thinks Marathon Press's parent company, The Johnson-Group, did not comply with a state law that requires businesses with 50 or more employees to give written notice to workers 60 days before closing.
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Exceptions to the 60-day closing notice According to state statutes, an employer is not liable to give notice to any person if the Department of Workforce Development determines that the business closing is the result of any of the following: • The sale of part or all of the employer's business, if the buyer agrees in writing and as part of the purchase agreement to hire almost all of the affected employees within six months. • The relocation of part or all of an employer's business within a reasonable commuting distance, if the employer offers to transfer almost all of the affected employees within six months. • The completion of a project, including seasonal work, if the affected employees were hired with the understanding that their job was limited to the duration of the work. • Unforeseeable business circumstances. • A natural or manmade disaster beyond employers' control. • A temporary halt in business operations, if the employer recalls the affected employees on or before the 60th day of cessation.
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Workers were stunned over the Memorial Day weekend when The JohnsonGroup notified them by letter that it had closed the plant in the Wausau West Business and Industrial Park. The 77-year-old company did commercial printing for companies including Wausau-Mosinee Paper Corp., Weyerhaeuser Inc., Renaissance Learning in Wisconsin Rapids and the Green Bay Packers, Lonsdorf said.
There were no signs of impending layoffs, he said. The plant had about 60 employees.
"We had no indication that there was going to be a complete closing," said Lonsdorf, of the town of Maine. "Workflow seemed steady."
Jim Chiolino, section chief in the equal rights division of the Department of Workforce Development, said the agency hadn't received any written complaints as of Thursday but expected them. Employees have 300 days from the day the plant closed its doors last Friday to file a complaint.
"Many employees have called already, so I know the complaint forms are on the way," Chiolino said.
Officials at The JohnsonGroup, based in Rockford, Ill., say the plant's quick shutdown is not a violation of the law because the company's situation falls under exceptions to the 60-day rule.
"The primary reason is the unforeseen circumstances, and to be perfectly honest ... we also fall under other exceptions," said Tonya Meister, vice president of marketing at The JohnsonGroup.
A bank made demands that prompted the company to shut down the Wausau plant, Meister said, but she declined to comment on the bank's demands. The printing plant did not lose a major contract, she said.
Meister said the company is looking for a buyer for its Wausau and Green Bay plants.
The JohnsonGroup closed the Green Bay plant, its only other Wisconsin operation, in similar fashion last Friday, leaving about 10 employees without jobs. The company also has printing plants in Illinois and one in Kentucky.
Chris Marschman, spokesman for the Department of Workforce Development, said the state in 2001 found violations in five of 51 complaints against businesses that shut down without a 60-day notice. One of the companies cited, Milwaukee Acme Die Casting, reached an out-of-court settlement and paid $417,600 to 228 workers, he said.
Of the remaining cases, 32 companies were not in violation of the state law and 14 complaints are still being reviewed.
The statistics can be deceiving, however, because one company could have more than one complaint filed against it, Marschman said. But it is likely there were nearly 51 businesses involved.
The Department of Workforce Development has 180 days to conduct an investigation after complaints are filed and frequently takes longer if the case involves litigation, Marschman said.