Employees with a Farmington-based nutritional supplement company Ultimate Nutrition are looking for answers after finding themselves out of work without warning.
Former workers have voiced their frustration online, including Chris Kingsbury. Kingsbury says he arrived ready to work at the Ultimate Nutrition headquarters but found a sign on the door telling him he had been terminated from the company.
“We didn’t receive any indication that this was happening,” said Kingsbury. “All of us were expecting that we would be able to continue our fruitful employment there and be able to do professional-level work and now there’s nothing.”
On Monday a sign posted on the front door read: “If you are reading this, please be informed that your employment has been terminated effective August 17, 2019. A packet of information will be sent to your mailing address within the next few days. If you do not receive the packet or have any questions you can contact us by writing to us at P.O. Box 643, Farmington CT 06034. If you have any company property please mail it back to P.O. Box 643, Farmington, CT 06034. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.”
Kingsbury says Ultimate Nutrition employs between 100 to 150 employees at three different locations.
“There are people that have been here for over 20 years and they were just let go without any notice,” said Kingsbury. “People who had just been brought on as department managers are now without jobs.”
The maker of nutritional supplements is registered with the Chamber of Commerce, which says they were unaware of the business closing. The Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce issued this statement to NBC Connecticut:
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“We have not been contacted by Ultimate Nutrition and we are unaware of the closures. We hope Ultimate Nutrition reaches out to the Department of Labor Response Team to help any individual that has lost their jobs to get assistance and enrolled in the unemployment programs to find a new position.”
But according to the Department of Labor, Ultimate Nutrition reports that employers are required to file notice with the Department of Labor if they have more than 100 full-time employees.
NBC Connecticut has made several attempts since Monday morning to get any information or comment from Ultimate Nutrition but has yet to receive a response.
As for Kingsbury, he’s working to find employment to support his family including his 9-year-old son, Riley.
“If you had come to us a week before hand or a day before hand or six months before hand and says we’re going to produce as much as we can but the company just isn’t going to be in business at day x that would’ve been at least understandable,” said Kingsbury. “It would’ve been respectable but to let us go like that is really low class.”
The Department of Labor says they have received a few calls from employees and are working with them to apply for unemployment benefits, file a complaint about not receiving wages or to receive job-seeking counseling and other services.
Kingsbury says that he and other former employees are working together to find other long-term positions.
