Montclair Supermarket Workers May Lose Their Jobs

Hundreds of workers at A&P’s two Montclair supermarkets may soon be facing unemployment.

On July 19, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Inc. (A&P) - which owns and manages several supermarket chains including Pathmark - filed for bankruptcy.

• See related article: A&P Declares Bankruptcy

In an Aug. 12 letter to Montclair Mayor Robert Jackson – posted online by Baristanet – A&P officials announced that the company has started formal proceedings to close the A&P on Valley Road and the Pathmark at Lackawanna Plaza.

The letter – a legal requirement under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) – states that as part of the bankruptcy process, the company is seeking to sell or has sold 120 of its stores.

The Montclair A&P is listed in the letter as “in contract to sell,” meaning that it has a potential buyer lined up.

The Pathmark is listed as “actively marketed to sell.”

If one of the stores is sold to another company, some of its employees may be hired by the new owner. But if not, workers may have as little as three months of employment left.

“In the event an employee does not receive an offer of employment from a purchaser of one of the company’s stores, we expect that their job loss would occur during the two-week period from November 12, 2015, to November 26, 2015,” the letter states.

The letter – dated Aug. 12 - officially began the termination process for 76 employees at the Valley Road A&P, and 106 employees at the Lackawanna Plaza Pathmark.

If a full-time employee is terminated prior to the 60 day mandatory advance notice, he/she is eligible for severance pay, the letter states.

TAP Into reported that Pathmark employees received termination notices on Monday.

Overall, the company employs about 28,500 people, many of them New Jersey residents, and runs Pathmark, Food Basics, Superfresh, and Food Emporium stores.

Pictured above: Pathmark at Lackawanna Plaza in Montclair

Send Montclair news tips and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com