Lost Larson fired worker after staff complaints of low pay and COVID-19 safety concerns, spurring investigation - Chicago Tribune

Renowned Chicago bakery Lost Larson paid more than $2,000 last month to a former employee after the National Labor Relations Board found merit to the worker’s claim that she was fired for banding with colleagues to address workplace concerns.

Lucy Honold, 31, who worked at Lost Larson from November 2020 until her firing Aug. 2, 2021, filed a charge with the NLRB in November. A four-month investigation concluded Honold had been fired in response to “her protected concerted activity of bringing workers’ concerns to the employer’s attention,” NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado said.

Lucy Honold is seen at her home in Chicago March 28, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Honold was eligible for more than $1,000 in back pay and to be reinstated to her job. Instead of returning to Lost Larson, however, she opted for an additional $1,000 in “front pay” compensation.

In interviews with the Tribune, Honold said Lost Larson owner Bobby Schaffer fired her by email while she was on unpaid vacation last summer after she and other employees raised concerns about issues that included pay and COVID-19 safety. Several Lost Larson employees quit without notice two weeks later in solidarity with Honold and over persisting concerns, four of those former employees said in interviews.

“I’m happy we organized, and I’m happy I got what I got from the NLRB, but there’s a much bigger problem than just this,” Honold said. “It’s insane how many jobs don’t pay people enough to live on.”

Schaffer, who opened Lost Larson in 2018 after working at Michelin three-star restaurant Grace and other fine-dining establishments, declined to discuss the settlement or Honold’s NLRB case. But in an email, he said, “It’s our position that the company complied with the law and determined to enter into a settlement as the most expedient way to concentrate on the business.”

“We care deeply about our employees’ wellbeing and continually strive for a rewarding working environment,” he said.

Emma Haas, who was hired at Lost Larson in April 2021 and among those who quit in August, said Honold’s firing had a chilling effect on other workers.

“Lucy got fired for having conversations and sharing concerns we all shared,” she said. “It felt like we had to be really careful moving forward.”

Honold said she and Lost Larson colleagues began working together in May 2021 to address frustrations about pay while business seemed to be thriving with “a line out the door on weekends.” Honold said she was hired for a front-of-house job taking orders and tending to the coffee bar at $9 an hour plus tips, which she said mapped out to about $15 an hour.

In the Chicago metropolitan area, fast food and counter workers earn an average of $12.77 per hour, including tips, according to May 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates. But Honold said she and several of her colleagues believed workers at one of the best-regarded bakeries in the city, operated by a high-profile chef and where tarts and cake slices cost as much as $10, deserved significantly higher wages.

After asking for more money, Honold said, she was given a promotion to shift lead with a $3 raise, which she said still didn’t seem like enough to live on. As a full-time employee working about 32 hours per week, her pay, including tips, equated to around $24,000 per year after taxes, she said..

“It couldn’t be any busier, and this was all they have to offer us?” Honold said. “When I realized I had a bunch of co-workers who felt the same, it was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we work so hard and get paid so little.’ ”

Lost Larson’s COVID-19 reopening plans became another motivating issue for organizing workers.

Both locations had shifted to online preorders and walk-up window service for the first year of the pandemic.

But in a May 20 email to staff provided to the Chicago Tribune, a Lost Larson manager announced plans to reopen for indoor service at the Wicker Park location beginning June 1, 2021.

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At Lost Larson, the manager’s email said the bakery would maintain a mask mandate “for now” for staff and customers when not seated. The manager said in the email she was “reluctant to make any changes regarding established COVID policies without a team consensus first.”

But multiple former Lost Larson employees told the Chicago Tribune they were concerned the plan was rushed and raised questions about safety, which led them to organize.

Lost Larson in Andersonville is seen on March 31, 2022. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, organizing “was in the air for food service workers at the time,” Honold said.

“A lot of co-workers and I were situating ourselves within the broader context of food service workers who were having a hard time and even dying for this industry,” she said.

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Twelve Lost Larson employees wrote an email to Schaffer in late May, asking for a meeting to discuss their concerns about reopening.

Employees met with Schaffer and a Lost Larson manager a few days later, Honold said. She said Schaffer told staff he wanted to get Lost Larson back to pre-pandemic operations, including customers inside the shops. But the workers made clear they wanted to move cautiously, Honold said.

Lost Larson management did delay opening its doors to customers for several weeks in Wicker Park due to employee feedback, but ultimately went ahead in July. The bakery also shifted its pay model from an hourly wage plus tips, to a flat rate between $15 and $20 per hour, but that still didn’t result in meaningful raises, Honold and other former Lost Larson employees said.

A week later, after her final shift before an unpaid three-week vacation, Honold said, management issued her a written warning for issues that included not constructing enough to-go boxes and running out of silverware during a shift. She said she believes the discipline was punishment for being “involved in this organizing effort and very vocal about it.”

A week later, on Aug. 2, 2021, while Honold was traveling, Schaffer fired her by email.

“While we had hoped to have a discussion with you in person, yet understand you will be out of town for the next few weeks, I need to provide you notice that we will be terminating your employment at Lost Larson effective 8/2,” read the email, which Honold provided to the Tribune. “Through our previous talks we have determined that your involvement with the company isn’t meshing with our current team.”

Ten Eyck, Haas and another worker, Hannah Roffers, said they and other former Lost Larson employees tried to continue changing working conditions at the bakery. They had one more meeting with management, where they objected to Honold’s firing and pay disparities. At that meeting, they asked for $20 hourly rates for all employees.

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A few days later, another employee involved in the effort, Zack Piccozzi, quit Lost Larson, both to protest Honold’s firing and because he was taken off the schedule without notice, which made him suspect he was going to be fired or disciplined for raising workplace concerns, Piccozzi said. After another week, several more employees, including Roffers, Haas and Ten Eyck, also quit.

Meanwhile, Honold said, she was advised by a friend of a friend who was a law student to file a charge with the NLRB after her firing. Honold filed a charge with the NLRB on Nov. 15.

She was informed she had a strong case. She filled out a form, was assigned a lawyer and signed an affidavit detailing circumstances of her firing.

She reached a settlement with Lost Larson on March 8, and the bakery paid her two weeks later. She said she was thankful for the outcome, but disappointed her efforts with co-workers didn’t get further at Lost Larson.

“I hope the employees there now see the notice and they take it seriously if they are interested in organizing,” Honold said.

jbnoel@chicagotribune.com

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Lost Larson fired worker after staff complaints of low pay and COVID-19 safety concerns, spurring investigation - Chicago Tribune
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