Financial woes forced a restaurant to lay off the majority of its staff last month
The co-owner of a local restaurant says staff who were laid off last month will receive money owed to them for unpaid wages — but it remains unclear when that will happen.
In August, Cravings Diner issued layoffs to approximately half a dozen employees working at the Market Mall establishment, leaving some staffers wondering when they’ll get their next paycheque.
Alexa Lewis was working as a waitress at Cravings Diner, which held a grand opening in June, until she received a layoff notice via text message from co-owner Sandra Armstrong on Aug. 26.
She told SooToday she was “incredibly blindsided and hurt” after being laid off.
“It was a good place to start with, and then she stopped paying us,” Lewis said.
“I kept working there for like six weeks without pay, and then she finally paid us — and then she did it again.
“And then, she laid us all off.”
Cravings Diner co-owner Sandra Armstrong and employee Alexis Lewis pose for a photo during the restaurant’s grand opening in June. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday
Lewis claims she has yet to be paid for 96 hours of work and vacation pay, which she says amounts to nearly $1,700 that’s owed to her.
“I was their hardest working employee,” said Lewis. “I did everything for them — I pulled doubles, even though I shouldn’t.
Jordan Gauthier was a line cook at Cravings Diner until mid-August, and claims he’s been waiting about three weeks to receive the $1,800 he’s still owed from work.
Jordan Gauthier is a former line cook at Cravings Diner. Photo supplied
“It was a little scary at first . . . I thought I was going to end up homeless because I got a really good place where I needed to come up with first and last month’s rent,” he said.
“And with Sandra not paying us, it kind of screwed a lot of stuff over.”
When asked about the unpaid wages, Armstrong says she’s “just barely getting by,” and is now in the process of trying to accumulate enough money to “pay everybody fairly at the same time.”
The co-owner of the restaurant, however, could not confirm when the laid-off workers will be paid.
“Trashing my business and hurting my clientele is going to make me go bankrupt, and they won’t get paid at all,” Armstrong told SooToday.
“So, I’d appreciate you not writing the story.”
Both Lewis and Gauthier have since secured new jobs at a mine site north of the Sault.
“I’m actually kind of glad that she let us go. I wouldn’t have got this opportunity to work for Aramark and actually work two weeks on, two weeks off — and make a substantial amount of money and be financially OK,” Gauthier said.
Lewis has since filed a claim with the Ministry of Labour, under the Employment Standards Act, outlining her grievance with her former employer.