THANKS, AND GOODBYE.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: UPFRONT

What does an employer owe rank-and-file workers in the event of a sale or downsizing? That's a question that has long interested me after writing many stories on mergers and acquisitions, few providing details on how workers will fare.

There's a simple answer in North Carolina: Nothing, except in the event of a mass layoff covered by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act or if a collective bargaining agreement is in place.

I'm not talking about deals in which struggling companies are forced to sell and dismiss staff. I'm referring to high-performing businesses with large market shares protected by franchise territories, friendly legislation, solid brands or even monopoly status.

North Carolina's "employment at will" status has helped it earn a reputation as an employer-friendly state and helps our growth outpace the nation. There's the law, however, and then there's the right thing to do. I asked an N.C. employment lawyer if thriving businesses have any obligations to staff members during a sale.

"If businesspeople have checked to make sure the WARN Act doesn't apply, and if there are no labor contracts in place, the lawyer is likely to shrug and say, 'You can do what you want. North Carolina is not going to stop you,'" says Katie Abernethy, an employment law specialist at The Noble Law Firm in Chapel Hill.

My ears perked up on this after publishing an M&A story on our website last month. The next day, I heard from several hourly workers who had lost their jobs as the lucrative transaction closed. Several dozen people, some with tenure topping 25 years, were dismissed without severance or company-paid insurance. Most live in eastern North Carolina towns with stable or declining...