A US furniture company laid off 2,700 staff - almost its entire workforce - with no notice or redundancy pay and broke the news via text messages and emails.
United Furniture Industries made the announcement late Monday night, just two days before Thanksgiving and while many were sleeping.
The Mississippi-based company told workers not to come in for their shifts the following day - which some reportedly did, having not read the memo.
All workers, except delivery drivers out on the road, would only be paid for the work they'd done, they said, while drivers would be paid until the end of the week.
One driver who was out on delivery, reportedly got arrested for trying to remove furniture from his truck, reports Mail Online. It's believed the furniture was found in a parking lot.
The memo sent to staff began: "At the instruction of the board of directors … we regret to inform you that due to unforeseen business circumstances, the company has been forced to make the difficult decision to terminate the employment of all its employees, effective immediately, on Nov. 21."
One former employee told VVNG: "I don’t think any of us are prepared for this, especially right before the holidays. It will definitely affect my family and my immediate plans, and I don’t know who to turn to or what to do now."
It is not known what led to the terminations, but as with the UK, a recession is expected to hit the country next year.
According to trade publication Furniture Today, the company fired its chief executive, replacing him with Todd Evans, who is the current CEO. Meanwhile the previous chief financial officer and the executive president of sales were also reportedly laid off in June.
A second email told staff that their "layoff from the company is expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without provision of COBRA".
COBRA is the federal law that gives people who lose their jobs an option to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance coverage under some circumstances.
Delivery drivers who were out on the road were informed they must return to a United Furniture base immediately to hand in their vehicle.
Ex-staff member, Toria Neal, has filed a lawsuit against her firm saying that the abrupt sacking violated federal law as staff were not given the necessary 60 days' notice.
Neal had worked for United Furniture Industries for more than eight years, Freight Waves reported. She claims her former employers have violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
An attorney representing Neal, Jack Simpson, told the publication: "Under the WARN Act, the employees of United Furniture were entitled to either a 60-day notice or 60 days of severance pay — neither of those were provided.
'If appointed class counsel, we look forward to vigorously investigating the actions of United Furniture and seeking as much compensation the terminated employees are legally entitled to."
