Contrary to recent news reports, Colorado Premium Foods will not abandon its facility in Carrollton, Georgia. The meat production company is courting a buyer, and because of federal labor law under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), letters indicating its intent to cease production are misleading.
Colorado Premium (K2D Inc.) has sought a purchaser of the company in recent months, and has made positive progress in finding a buyer. If successful, Colorado Premium would sell its operations to the potential buyer, and it would cease operations at that point. In recent days, Colorado Premium and the potential buyer have reached a point in the negotiations where Colorado Premium had to publicize its intent to cease operations. Under the WARN Act, companies with more than 100 employees must provide at least a 60-day written notice of a plant closure. Because Colorado Premium intends to sell its operations to another entity and divest itself of the ownership of the Carrollton facility, it had to issue notices mandated by the WARN Act.
Larry Earle, Vice President of Operations for Colorado Premium, says that if the buyout is successful, operations at the Carrollton plant will continue up to the date of the transaction, and once the transaction is complete, its workers will have an opportunity to transition their job to the new organization.
“I have personally sat with every employee and told them that they will have an opportunity to continue their employment with us as we complete the buyout negotiations,” says Earle. Colorado Premium intends to retain every employee at the facility through the transition, even offering Stay Bonuses as an incentive for staying with the company through the transaction period. “Our intention is to keep every employee through the sale of the business, and once the sale is complete, the employees will have the opportunity to transition their jobs under the new ownership,” says Earle.
