That's a better claim. But not airtight.

Back wages owed from recent *work* performed, up to a certain cap (probably less than what CA's make) is a priority, even in Ch.7.

The grey area is whether warn act advance notice pay is given priority over secured creditors. Since it's not pay owed for work actually performed, but basically .gov mandated severance pay. Sounds like they're trying to get ahead of secured creditors (that's the only chance of getting a dime).