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Four workers laid off from General Trucking, LLC and Basic Construction Co. in Springdale last fall are suing the company in federal court for failing to notify them ahead of time.

Gary Combs, owner of General Trucking and Basic Construction, started dropping workers in late September. At the time, Combs said he was selling about 100 dump trucks and dumping the hauling business.

The sale of the trucks and layoffs were due to problems hiring and retaining drivers, Combs said. He said 25 of the dump-truck drivers tested positive for methamphetamine at one time and he did not want to be legally liable if a driver under the influence of drugs had an accident.

Last week, however, workers said Combs actually laid off 93 workers from Basic and 127 workers from General Trucking, which is enough employees to trigger the 60 days layoffs notice under the federal Workers And Retraining Notification Act of 1988.

Violating the WARN Act can make the company liable for 60 days of pay, any health benefits or other benefits due and $500 a day in civil penalties. The lawsuit is also asking for attorney fees.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 3 in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Arkansas and the workers are seeking class action status to represent all the workers laid off.