More than 40 employees who lost their jobs after the sudden closing of 10 Here to Serve restaurants have joined forces to file a lawsuit against the restaurant group, Oasis Outsourcing staffing company and Leigh and Tom Catherall.
Spots including Twist, Prime and Noche shuttered without warning Monday night, and employees had still not received paychecks for work from mid-September to Oct. 5, according to the lawsuit, which accuses the defendants of violating the Fair Labor and Standards Act. A Here to Serve employee, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that Leigh Catherall handed out two weeks worth of pay to employees Thursday evening, but added that employees are still owed for one week of work, and many salaried employees are still owed for vacation and sick days.
The lawsuit alleges counts of failure to pay minimum wage and overtime, breach of contract and worker adjustment and retaining notification. The suit posits that the closures were foreseeable and that the defendants were required to give at least 60 days notice to employees.
Attorney Gary Kessler, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the employees, said he met with more employees on Thursday night who might join the lawsuit.
“It’s incredibly unfair to these employees,” Kessler said. “Whatever happened, this is inexcusable. They feel as if they’ve been led on day by day by day.”
He said that while he's happy that employees did get some of the pay they were owed, he noted that the "payments had been previously promised but that actual payments were made only after we filed a lawsuit against the companies." He added that the lawsuit will proceed until all employees are compensated fully.
In e-mails sent to Here to Serve employees obtained by WSB Radio, Leigh Catherall told employees Friday that they’d receive their checks Monday. On Monday, another email was sent by director of operations Phil Handley promising checks after 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Employees did receive some payment by Thursday evening.
Cary Ichter, who represents Here to Serve and Leigh Catherall, said he hasn't seen the lawsuit, but that he expects the case to be dismissed as the payment situation will get resolved. He also said that several of the Here to Serve closings were not permanent, and for the ones that are, that the closings were not foreseeable. He said he filed a lawsuit against Oasis on Monday, alleging that the company used money earmarked for employee paychecks to pay down a Here to Serve debt without their approval.
He also added that three of the four Noche locations -- Virginia-Highland, Brookhaven and Vinings -- would be open for business Thursday night, though the Johns Creek location would remain closed. A Here to Serve employee disputed the claim that the restaurants would reopen Thursday night. Calls to the three Noche locations made at 6:30 p.m. Thursday were answered by a pre-recorded message indicating that no one was available to answer the phone. The messages at the Virginia-Highland and Vinings locations still listed the restaurants' hours of operations.
Leigh Catherall became owner and CEO of Here to Serve in 2012, when the restaurants' ownership was transferred to her as part of her divorce settlement with Tom Catherall. The transfer led in part to Here to Serve being named in a federal court lawsuit in 2014 by the owners of Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square in Buckhead, seeking to have Twist at Phipps and Prime at Lenox evicted from the malls. The lawsuit alleged Tom Catherall breached the leasing agreement by failing to disclose he had transferred ownership of the restaurant.
Editor’s note: This post was updated Oct. 8 at 8:58 p.m. with information about the status of employee paychecks.
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