Foxtrot facing $3.8M in back wage, benefits payments

The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) is seeking recovery of more than $3.8 million in back wages and benefits for more than 350 displaced workers after their employers, convenience-store chain Foxtrot Café & Market and small-format grocer Dom’s Kitchen & Market, abruptly closed.

Foxtrot had 33 convenience stores in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Austin, Texas, as well as two Dom’s Kitchen & Market small-format grocery locations in Chicago. The company closed all of its stores on April 23 with no notice to its employees. The move came less than six months after the two brands merged and formed a new entity, Outfox Hospitality.

Foxtrot's assets were sold to holding company Further Point Enterprises at an online auction in May for approximately $2.2 million. Days later, Outfox Hospitality filed for bankruptcy.

On Oct. 30, IDOL, through the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, filed three separate federal bankruptcy claims against parent company Chicago-based Outfox Hospitality LLC and its Foxtrot and Dom’s seeking back wages and benefits owed to its employees when the businesses failed to provide the required 60-day notice under the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).

In April, Foxtrot, Dom’s and Outfox informed workers the businesses were immediately closing. In response, IDOL notified the three businesses of their obligations to provide sufficient notice of closure under WARN and sought payroll records and other documents. While the businesses had initially indicated the need for additional time to provide the requested documents to IDOL, they later notified the department that they were filing for federal bankruptcy protection and would not comply with the request for financial records, as the bankruptcy proceeding halted IDOL’s collection efforts on behalf of the affected employees.

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While Foxtrot has reopened some stores, IDOL continued attempts to recover the wages and benefits owed under WARN by pursuing priority wage claims in the federal bankruptcy proceedings.

“The Illinois Department of Labor works every day to protect and recover unpaid wages owed to workers across the State,” said IDOL Director Jane Flanagan. “In cases such as these, the department is committed to pursuing all legal paths against employers who fail to abide by their obligations under WARN.”

The Illinois WARN Act requires employers with 75 or more full-time employees to give workers and state and local government officials 60 days advance notice of a closure or mass layoff. An employer that fails to provide notice as required by law is liable to each affected employee for back pay and benefits for the period of the violation, up to a maximum of 60 days. The employer may also be subject to a civil penalty of up to $500 for each day of the notice violation.

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“I will continue to partner with the Illinois Department of Labor to protect workers and ensure their rights on the job,” said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

Representatives for Outfox Hospitality, Foxtrot and Dom’s did not immediately respond to a CSP request for comment.

This story was originally featured on CSP Daily News, a sister publication of Supermarket News.