BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — After Friendly's announced that 23 of its restaurants would be closing on Sunday, it left hundreds of employees with unanswered questions. One worker who wished that 7 Eyewitness News would not reveal her identity, said she couldn't believe the news when she found realized that she was out of a job.
She says that she received a notice dated April 1st that terminated her contract and wasn't given the notice until April 7th. A Friendly's spokesperson tells 7 Eyewitness News that the franchise informed each worker personally that their place of employment would be closing.
“What they’re saying is not true and what they did to us is not fair," the worker said. “We dedicated our time and our lives to this company that didn’t even have the compassion to let us know that we didn’t have a job anymore. They didn’t give us a chance to find another job.”
Now U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is looking into whether or not Friendly's bypassed federal law by closing a handful of locations without warning. Schumer says an investigation is being done to see if Friendly's found a loophole in the WARN Act. The legislation, established in 1988, would require a company to give its employees a 60-day notification before termination of employment if 50 or more employees at an individual work place are impacted. In this case, hundreds of employees are affected but they're spread out over 23 different locations.
Friendly's says this decision will, "...best position the brand for a bright future."
