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Fired workers drop suit against WinCup

Latino workers who claimed they were unjustly fired have abandoned their legal fight against a West Chicago factory.

In September, a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 50 Latinos claimed that New WinCup Holdings Inc. terminated the workers because of assumptions about their legal employment status. The workers alleged they were let go without 60 days' notice as required under federal law.

But Tuesday, a representative answering the telephone at Working Hands Legal Clinic, which represented the workers, confirmed the suit has been dropped.

WinCup officials said the withdrawal supports their contention that the lawsuit was baseless from the day it was filed.

"This solidifies our position that there was never any violation because the plaintiffs were never employees of WinCup," said Mark Jason, WinCup's executive vice president.

"We've always deemed this lawsuit frivolous and baseless," Jason added. "The fact that it has been withdrawn proves that."

Jason said WinCup bought the West Chicago factory from Radnor Holdings Corp. in November 2006 after Radnor fell into bankruptcy.

When WinCup took ownership of the factory, all the workers were required to complete federal employee eligibility forms . Those forms require proof of citizenship or temporary or permanent resident status

More than 100 factory workers couldn't provide that proof, so they never became WinCup employees, Jason said.

The more than 100 workers who did provide the required documents were hired.

Currently, about 250 people work at the West Chicago facility, which manufactures paper cups for restaurants.

"We've told the plaintiffs and other workers that if they produce valid documentation, we will rehire them tomorrow with their full seniority reinstated," Jason said Tuesday. "To my knowledge, none of them have taken us up on that offer."

In the lawsuit, the employees sought two weeks severance pay for every year of service at the factory.

But because they were never WinCup employees, Jason said, they aren't entitled to WinCup benefits or severance packages.

"If they want to seek severance from Radnor now, that's up to them," he said. "But that's not something we're offering."

The representative at Working Hands Legal Clinic directed calls about the lawsuit to Christopher Williams, the clinic's executive director. Williams didn't return voicemails left on his cell phone.

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