One of the 1,200 employees who lost their jobs when the U.S. Investigation Services shut down in Grove City has filed a class action lawsuit claiming the company failed to follow federal laws during the layoffs.

Thomas Karaniewsky filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh alleging that USIS did not give workers the federally mandated 60 day notice to the 3,000 employees who were terminated after the company lost a government contract.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, (WARN Act) is designed to protect workers, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs.

Karaniewsky says he worked as a record searcher at the USIS facility on Lincoln Avenue in Grove City until he was terminated without pay on August 7, 2014. He says he did not receive the termination letter until September 24.

Karaniewsky, who is represented by Pittsburgh attorney Samuel Cordes, is asking the judge to declare the lawsuit a class action, which would allow other former employees to become party to the action.

The suit says that the number of employees who would be eligible to become part of the class action are so numerous that it would be impracticable to estimate.

The suit seeks to recover unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay and accrued vacation for 60 days following their respective terminations. It also alleges that USIS failed to make the pension and 401(k) contributions and provide employee benefits under COBRA for 60 days from and after the dates of their respective terminations.

A wfmj.com review of the online database from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry shows no WARN notice filed by USIS in 2014.

USIS has not yet filed an answer to the lawsuit.  A spokesperson for USIS emailed a short statement saying, "As a matter of policy, the Company does not comment on litigation."

US Investigative Services handled background checks for government employees, including the military, but lost its contract with the government. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) cited a lack of confidence in the agency.

Several high profile cases have called into question the company's effectiveness. The company did not do the initial investigation but did the re-check into Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency in May of 2013.

USIS also did the background check into Aaron Alexis, who shot up the Naval Yard in September 2013, killing 12 people.  

USIS released a statement in September in response questions about background checks conducted on Snowden and Alexis.

It read in part:

OPM confirmed in sworn testimony before Congress on February 11, 2014 that the investigative file compiled by USIS on Aaron Alexis “was complete and in compliance with all investigative standards.”

USIS followed all OPM-mandated procedures and protocols in its background investigation of Edward Snowden.

According to public statements by OPM, neither the Snowden nor the Alexis background investigations are at issue in the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) civil action that was filed against the Company last year.

In August 2014, the USIS computer system was hacked, possibly compromising the records of up to 25,000 government employees.