YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A former employee of Falcon Transport has filed a class action lawsuit against her former employer alleging that Falcon violated federal law when it suddenly shut down this weekend.

A civil lawsuit filed by Mary Chavez of Girard was filed in U.S. District Court Monday on behalf of other former Falcon employees who learned late Saturday via email that the Liberty Township-based transport company had closed its doors.

The lawsuit alleges that Falcon violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act which requires large companies to notify workers about mass layoffs sixty days before the layoff dates.

Workers told 21 News that the shutdown of Falcon caught them by surprise.  Repeated attempts by 21 News to reach Falcon Transport have gone unanswered.

The lawsuit asks the court to award former employees an amount equal to the sum of unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay pension and 401(k) contributions and other ERISA benefits that would have been covered and paid under the then applicable employee benefit plans had that coverage continued for that period, for sixty (60) working days following the member employee’s termination, all determined in accordance with the WARN Act.

Filed through the law firm Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter of Columbus, the attorneys ask the court to declare the lawsuit a class action, enabling other former Falcon employees to join the action as plaintiffs.

As if 6 pm Monday, the Ohio Department of Job and family services had not posted a WARN notice from Falcon Transport.

Falcon has not filed a response to the lawsuit.

According to the Department of Transportation, Falcon employed 585 truck drivers.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court may be read here: