TransCare Corp, the privately owned ambulance company, has filed bankruptcy protection. This action opted1,200 workers who lost their jobs to file a suit against Lynn Tilton's Patriarch Partners LLC.
Patriarch, a Brooklyn-based company, was accused by the Transcare workers of failing to give a 60-day notice before imposing the termination upon them without any valid reason. The workers said that the company violated an employment law called the WARN Act, as per Reuters.
The case filed by the workers in Brooklyn and Manhattan aims to get the benefits including the unpaid wages that was performed by the workers prior to the bankruptcy announcement. According to the workers complaints, TransCare told them that a restructuring would last for several months but it was changed the following day and a shutdown of many operations occurred including its NYC 911 ambulance service.
According to one of the employees, the VA hospital was one TransCare's largest contract. He added that hints of financial troubles were sweltering during the summer when some of the employees haven't received any pay for two weeks, as reported by WPXI.
Patriarch and its owner are now facing fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly hiding losses and misrepresenting the status of the funds to its investors. Tilton, however, denied the accusations saying she is ready to face those charges in court, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Based on the portfolio of Lynn Tilton, the corporation specializes in distress investing and she has over 70 companies under her name. TransCare, including some of its affiliates, has filed chapter 7 protection which is often used by companies to protect them against bankruptcy claims.
Patriarch's primary control of Transcare and its role to direct the shutdown and bunkruptcy makes Patriarch solely liable for the violation of the WARN Act which resulted in the abrupt shutdown of the company.
