BlackBerry is facing serious troubles just before its official return to the smartphone business since it was served with a $20 million CAD class action lawsuit that was signed by more than 300 of its employees. This serious legal action includes many workers that are no longer connected with the company and they are after one big issue- termination entitlements, according to Ottawa-based law firm Nelligan O´Brien Payne.
BlackBerry´s Issue Could Really Harm Its Image
Apparently, BlackBerry is accused for transferring several employees to the Ford Motor Company of Canada, and even forcing them to sign their resignation letters instead of providing the correspondent termination entitlements. In fact, the plaintiffs claimed that BlackBerry initially arranged to transfer the employees to the Canadian branch of Ford last fall, then eventually notified them that they´ve decided to resign by accepting their new jobs at this company.
Naturally, considering that Nelligan O´Brien Payne saw how BlackBerry was supposedly the party that initiated this transfer, it claimed that this company terminated their employees and should pay all of the related entitlements that are required by the law and the contracts that were already completed.
The Employees Wants BlackBerry To Pay $20 Million Cad To The Plaintiffs
According to the employees' lawyer, the worst detail of this situation is that in addition to losing their entitlements, BlackBerry´s former employees also lost all of their accumulated years of service with the Canadian company. Of course, the class action lawsuit against BlackBerry is demanding the firm to pay all of the related termination entitlements, or just pay $20 million Cad to the respective plaintiffs.
Although BlackBerry didn't make its response to this matter immediately, the Canadian company claimed that it had already reviewed the allegations in the lawsuit, and that it feels confident about the way in which it allegedly complied with all its obligations with its employees, which makes the company believe that it needs to defend itself against the lawsuit vigorously, since it argued that the case lacks merit. Although it remains unknown how this conflict will end, this situation clearly represents a serious harm to BlackBerry´s image just before the release of its highly-expected mobile devices.
