NJ Red Lobster employees take legal action after company files for bankruptcy

Two employees at a Morris County Red Lobster filed a class action lawsuit after the seafood restaurant abruptly closed and the company declared bankruptcy.

Brandon Wright was a full-time manager at the Ledgewood Red Lobster and Trista Van Jura was a server, according to the lawsuit filed in Morris County Superior Court on Monday. Wright had been with the company for 10 years while Van Jura had been there for three months.

The seafood chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida on May 19 after it "temporarily" closed 87 locations nationwide, including four in New Jersey. There are still 12 others open in the state.

A message left for Red Lobster media relations was not immediately returned.

According to the lawsuit, Wright received a phone call on May 13 that the Ledgewood location would be closing and he didn't need to go to work and co-workers told Van Jura that the location had "abruptly closed."

The suit said the Ledgewood Red Lobster, which is on Route 10, closed without prior notice. In addition to the Morris County location, the Lawrenceville, East Brunswick and Bridgewater sites also closed. The last paychecks were issued May 17 and Wright said his paycheck had a line item labeled severance, equaling two weeks of pay.

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The pair said they brought this lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other employees with the company in New Jersey who were "terminated without cause beginning on or about May 13 and within 30 days of that date or were terminated without cause as the reasonably foreseeable consequence of the mass layoff, termination of operations and/or transfer of operations ordered."

The suit said over 50 people had their jobs terminated just a month after the news that Red Lobster was considering filing for Chapter 11 and failed to provide the required 90-day notice under New Jersey law.

According to the lawsuit, a class action suit would allow a large number of people in a similar situation to "prosecute their common claims in a single forum."

The suit claims Red Lobster violated the New Jersey WARN Act, which provides workers with protections by requiring employees to provide 60 days' notice during big layoffs and plant closures. Changes were made in April 2023 that increased obligations for employers.

The suit is seeking judgment against Red Lobster to give workers "an amount equal to the sum of their unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, pension and 401K contributions and other benefits for 90 days.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Red Lobster bankruptcies lead to lawsuit in New Jersey