Eighteen employees are out of work and some are still waiting for a paycheque following the closure in June of Streetside Grill, a St. Albert resto-pub.
Several former employees were not paid for their last few weeks of work and after inquiries from the St. Albert Gazette, co-owner Tony van Leeuwen began dropping off paycheques. He said everyone will be paid by the end of this week.
"We didn't make enough money," he said. "We definitely are going to pay the employees, it's just, unfortunately, with this turn of events, we had to basically stop the bleeding."
He said negotiations are underway to sell the restaurant, which will open under the same name and new ownership in the coming months.
Viveca Robinson, a cook at the restaurant, said she is also owed roughly $600. She started part-time at the restaurant in mid-May and was saving for university.
"I'm out about $600, so it kind of sucks," she said. "I know other employees are a lot worse off. My friend was also trying to save for university and he was out more than $1,000."
Her earnings span roughly three weeks, during which she worked on an almost daily basis, Robinson said.
Alberta's Employment Standards Code says employees must be paid at least once a month, with earnings paid within 10 consecutive days after the end of each pay period.
"[Management] didn't even really say anything at first about it actually closing," she said, adding the last time she heard from management was in a text message informing her the restaurant was closing for one week. She said she hasn't heard from them since.
Robinson filed an Employment Standards complaint with the Government of Alberta to recover the earnings she is owed.
Jordan Schapansky, a full-time cook at the restaurant, also filed a complaint in hopes of getting the $1,500 to $2,000 he said he is owed.
He began work in October, clocking 50 to 55 hours a week so for fall tuition and rent at the University of Saskatchewan.
"I'm just wondering what's going on, as far as delaying payment … keeping us all in the dark, that's ridiculous," he said. "I'm not the only kid there that's not getting paid and I'm not the only kid going to school and paying his way through."
Jay Fisher, spokesperson for Alberta Human Services, said a handful of complaints have been filed in the last two months against the restaurant.
"We have received four complaints in regards to (Streetside Grill) and, like all complaints, once they are received, they go into a queue and they are in process now," he said.
Employment Standards officers will investigate the claim to determine if a balance is left owing to an employee. If this proves to be the case, officers will request that the employer pay up.
If the employer fails to pay the owed funds, a formal order will be issued and, pending appeals, can be enforced in court.
Van Leeuwen said only a handful of employees are still owed funds and when ownership changes, employees will likely have the opportunity to get their jobs back.
Bumpy road
Streetside Grill has had a turbulent ride since opening last May.
Van Leeuwen said roughly two months into operation, the restaurant was forced to close because the previous establishment, Avocado Restaurant and Lounge, had creditors knocking on their door.
"The previous restaurant owed money to ATB Financial and ATB came in and seized everything and that was totally out of our control," he said. "We were just kind of innocent bystanders but I think that [was] a major contributing factor to us closing and not being able to make it."
The restaurant opened in October and celebrated a grand opening in late November, although van Leeuwen said the business was never able to recover.
"This has been such a struggle for us and we have never made money," he said. "Every single month, I have had to pay the lease and the wages and I just ran out of money because our company was not making money."
