ESPN Zone Workers Protest Layoffs

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that more than 20 of the 140 workers laid off from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor ESPN Zone sports complex have a beef with the company.  They claim that it violated federal workplace protection laws when it closed without warning the establishment.  The group gathered outside the now closed theme bar and restaurant today in protest.  The Walt Disney Company, ESPN Zone’s parent company, denies any wrong doing.

Five of the seven sports complexes were closed in June and along with sports fan’s protests that they will no longer have a place to drink beer and eat wings and burgers while watching their favorite ball game, the protesters are vocal of the fact that the organization did not provide proper notice as required under federal law, specifically the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).  If their former employers do not meet for negotiations in seven days, legal action is threatened.

Among the five ESPN Zones closed, over 500 employees lost their jobs.