A former employee at the Foxtrot store in Old Town filed a proposed class action lawsuit Wednesday, a day after the market/cafe chain closed all its stores.
State of play: Plaintiff Jamil Moore alleges that all employees were terminated without prior notice, which may be a violation of the federal and state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
- Moore alleges that he was terminated in the middle of his shift Tuesday around 11:30am, and that other employees found out they were let go in the same manner.
- The suit claims Foxtrot’s parent company Outfox Hospitality failed to pay employees’ wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, and/or accrued PTO for 60 days following their respective terminations.
Context: The WARN Act requires large employers to give at least 60 days notice of large-scale layoffs.
- The Act was designed to help workers find new jobs before losing their current positions.
The big picture: Outfox closed 33 Foxtrot stores in Chicago, Austin, D.C. and Dallas, as well as two Dom’s Kitchen and Markets in Chicago abruptly Tuesday, with customers showing up to signs saying the stores were closed immediately.
The other side: Calls to Outfox were not returned, but in a statement Tuesday the company said, “We explored many avenues to continue the business but found no viable option despite good faith and exhaustive efforts.”
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