About 150 employees were laid off by Rolf’s Patisserie in Lincolnwood in December. They were given little to no notice that the company was shutting down. To make matters worse, many of these employees live paycheck-to-paycheck and found out that their final paychecks did not clear either.
These former workers are now seeking to band together in a class to bring a Rolf’s Patisserie lawsuit, reports the Chicago Tribune.
In happier times, Rolf's was a gourmet bakery serving several neighboring states. However, after an incident in 2010 where about a hundred people were sickened by eating its products, the bakery struggled, reports the Tribune.
Last month, the bakery announced that it was closing for a day for cleaning. However, the next day, company president Lloyd Culbertson announced the bakery's closing on its website. In a letter to employees on January 4, the employees were finally officially told they were out of a job.
In these tough economic times, no one can blame a struggling company for closing its doors. But did Rolf's Patisserie owe a duty to its employees to provide advance notice it was closing?
Like with all legal questions, the answer is that "it depends." Generally, the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) requires employers to provide 60-day advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs.
Employers are usually covered by the Warn Act if they have 100 or more employees. However, the calculation of 100 employees is not very straightforward. Instead, some employees such as workers who are temporary or part-time may not be counted.
The Rolf's Patisserie lawsuit claims that the bakery failed to give adequate notice of the business closing and failed to properly pay its employees. The employees are entitled to their pay, but it's not so clear if they are entitled to advance notice of the closing.
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