Several Frisch’s Big Boy restaurants across the Tri-State abruptly closed, leaving employees and customers blindsided. Some workers say they were forced to sign documents or face termination.
“They kept telling us we were going to stay open, that there was a continuance, which we found out later was a lie,” said Haley Johnson told, a former employee at the Middletown location, WCPO 9 News. “The day of us closing was the day we found out it was closing.”
Johnson walked into work Sunday only to discover it was her last day. “It was really sad,” she said. “We had regulars come in, there were a lot of tears shed. It was horrible.”
Customers were also caught off guard. “We get the rude awakening that everybody else has that it’s shut down—no notice,” said Sarah Karafa, who arrived at the restaurant to find it closed.
On her final day, Johnson received a document asking if she wanted to transfer to another location. Employees were instructed to list two preferred locations or resign. Johnson refused to sign and was fired two days later.
Cincinnati employment attorney Matt Miller-Novak said workers from the closed locations likely have little legal recourse. “If you’re terminated for cause, you also don’t get unemployment,” he explained. “If you don’t sign this as a Frisch’s employee, and they terminate you, that would be considered termination for cause, which means you wouldn’t qualify for unemployment.”
Frisch’s did not respond to requests for comment.
Johnson, now unemployed, is searching for a way to support her two young children. “They had us believing we were really going to be OK and have a job,” she said. “We’ve got Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, and I don’t know how I’m going to provide for them when it’s just me and them.”