Two former TGI Fridays employees in New York are suing the casual-dining chain, claiming that they were fired without proper notice when their restaurants abruptly closed last month.
The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed earlier this week in Texas amid TGI Fridays’ ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
According to the suit, employees Jamie Cramer and Alexandra Modugno, who worked at the chain’s Brooklyn and Syracuse locations, respectively, lost their jobs on Oct. 24 when their restaurants permanently shut down. The closures were among about 50 others that preceded TGI Fridays’ bankruptcy filing on Nov. 2.
The plaintiffs said they were not given 60 days’ notice that they were going to lose their jobs, which is a requirement for mass layoffs or closures under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN Act.
They also alleged that none of their colleagues in New York or elsewhere received such a notice.
The plaintiffs also said TGI Fridays has not paid them the 60 days’ worth of wages and benefits that they are due under the WARN Act, and actually ordered them to reimburse the chain’s payroll company for wages they received beyond Oct. 24.
The WARN Act is a federal law intended to give workers time to find another job ahead of a planned layoff.
The employees are asking the court to certify their complaint as a class action that would include all other TGI Fridays employees who lost their jobs within two months of Oct. 24 due to restaurant closures.
They are also asking that TGI Fridays be ordered to reimburse them for unpaid wages under the WARN Act along with their attorneys’ fees and other costs related to the litigation.
Dallas-based TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy after years of sales declines and restaurant closures. It has closed about 100 struggling locations this year and as of Thursday had 162 units in the U.S.
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