Laid-off Foxtrot workers demanding 60 days of severance pay

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Former workers of the now-defunct Foxtrot Market want the company held accountable, and are demanding 60 days of severance pay after they were laid off without warning when the grocery store chain abruptly closed all its stores this week.

Arise Chicago, a workers' rights organization, said Friday that they have filed charges with the Illinois Department of Labor on the former Foxtrot employees' behalf, accusing parent company Outfox Hospitality of failing to give employees the required 60 days' notice of layoffs under state and federal law.

"They will not be outfoxed, they are not giving up, and they are here to ask what is owed to them," Arise Chicago organizer Jose Uribe said.

A group of former employees for Outfox Hospitality rallied outside the company's commissary in Pilsen on Friday, and said they learned just a couple hours before customers the stores would be closing and they would be out of work.

The employees, who assembled the prepared foods sold at Foxtrot stores, said they expected more work after the merger, and the company appeared to be hiring.

"After hearing that, it was pretty much a shock … when you're home, and you're thinking what are you going to with your lives right now," former Foxtrot worker Oscar Correa said.

Former Foxtrot workers also have filed a federal lawsuit against Outfox, seeking 60 days of severance pay and benefits for laid off workers.

The lawsuit claims Outfox Hospitality violated federal and state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Acts when it abruptly closed all Foxtrot and Dom's Kitchen & Market stores on Tuesday and laid off workers without warning.

Both laws require employers to provide at least 60 days' notice before mass layoffs. The lawsuit, which seeks class action status for all Dom's and Foxtrot employees, seeks 60 days of severance pay and benefits for laid off workers.

The lawsuit claims no Foxtrot or Dom's workers received the required 60 days' notice of the layoffs, or any severance pay or benefits.

On Tuesday, Foxtrot and Dom's announced the immediate closure of all of their stores, only six months after they had announced a merger under parent company Outfox Hospitality.

Foxtrot had operated 16 stores in Chicago and 17 in Texas and the Washington D.C. area. Dom's had operated two stores in Chicago.