Mississippi-based United Furniture Industries laid off nearly its entire workforce before Thanksgiving.
According to a report from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, around 2,700 workers lost their jobs on Monday.
The layoff is expected to be permanent, and all benefits will be terminated immediately without provision of COBRA, according to a follow-up email from United Furniture Industries. The federal law that allows people who lose their jobs to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance coverage under some circumstances is called COBRA.
Many of those who were fired were asleep when the emails were sent and some never saw them before they went to their shifts on Tuesday.
Truck drivers who were out making deliveries were told to return to a United Furniture location immediately to turn in their vehicles.
The layoffs made at the behest of the company's board of directors were due to unforeseen business circumstances. FOX Business requests for comment were not immediately returned, and any other details were vague.
Layoffs took place at United's North Carolina and California locations as well.
That's just not cool, former employee Marcus Nivens told WFMY.
The station reported that United had let go of 300 people over the summer.
One former worker has taken legal action over the mass firing, according to FreightWaves.
United Furniture Industries is based in Okolona, Miss. It makes furniture under its brand and the brand Lane Home Furnishings.
In 2017 it acquired the brand from Heritage Home Group LLC for an unidentified sum.