By Carlyn Kolker 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former employees of law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf who claim they weren't given sufficient warning about the firm's collapse can sue as a class, a bankruptcy judge ruled on Friday.

Approximately 450 former employees and lawyers of Dewey claim that before the firm fell apart in May they were not notified that their jobs would be terminated, a violation of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The act requires employers to give 60 days of notice before mass layoffs, and a similar New York state law requires 90 days of notification.

The former employees, headed by lead plaintiff Vittoria Conn, a former document specialist in the firm's New York office, are seeking 60 days of wages and benefits from the Dewey estate.

In February, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn denied the estate's motion to dismiss the employees' case, and the class was certified after the opposing parties "met and conferred," Glenn wrote in Friday's ruling.

Conn's attorney, Jack Raisner, and Frank Oswald, a lawyer for Dewey, didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

The lawsuit was first filed on May 10, about a week after Dewey notified its staff and attorneys that they could face mass layoffs. Dewey filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 28.

The case is Adversary Proceeding, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-01672.

For Vittoria Conn: Jack Raisner and Rene Roupinian of Outten & Golden.

For Dewey & LeBoeuf: Frank Oswald, Jonathan Ibsen and Lara Sheikh of Togut, Segal & Segal; and Joshua Davis and Elizabeth Levine of Goulston & Storrs.

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