Simo Ridolfi spent a big chunk of her birthday on Jan. 4 thinking about how she can pay for some of her school tuition fees.

She would've celebrated a little if not for the fact that she's jobless at the moment; something she didn't expect heading into the new year.

On Dec. 28, she and her colleagues at Sea Glass Waterfront Grill at Van Isle Marina were informed through an email that the restaurant was closing permanently.

The owners cited the "rising cost and stress of running the business" as the reason for the abrupt closure. Ridolfi, a server for one and a half years, was one of 25 workers who lost their job, most of whom are still owed money for tips and wages.

B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·œI was completely unaware and I was supposed to go to work that day when we got the email."

The 23-year-old UVic nursing student says owners Zach Vincent and Ann Lockley promised to pay her $1,000 in tips on top of wages she is due, within three days of serving them with the notice of closure. 

Fellow server Phoebe Lee, who has been employed at the restaurant for more than two years, is owed $1,640 in tips plus wages, money she could've used to pay for rent and tuition fees. "If I had known I wasn't getting paid, I could have found another way to make money during my time there."

Dina Anderson, who claims the owners owe her at least $1,000, stated that the last time she heard from them was on Dec. 30, in an email to staff members alerting them of the company's intention to file for bankruptcy.

In the email, Lockley said, "There was no chance of securing funding to revitalize the business" and expressed her "sincerest apologies and wished things had ended differently at Sea Glass."

Anderson added they've filed their complaints to the employment services and are hoping to get back what they're owed.

Others had to begin the new year by applying for employment insurance (EI) benefits, which further added to their problems as they were not given a record of employment B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·“ a requirement for EI approval.

Peninsula B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· Review did reach out to one of the owners. However, they declined to comment.

Getting paid what they're owed

According to Gillian MacGregor, government regulations and human resources advisor of BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association (BCRFA), in this particular situation, employees should immediately file their complaints with the employment standards branch of B.C.

"That's really important. The employment standards will be able to recover it for them if there's any money."  

She said restaurants that close abruptly are not common, "but it happens."

"I worked for several years for the employment standards branch of the Ministry of Labour and that was something that came across my desk fairly regularly B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·“ the employer had closed the business, hadn't paid the employees and disappeared."  

The HR specialist doesn't think the employers have decided to disappear but are probably trying to scrabble every penny they can get together so they can pay off their obligations.

In their last email to the staff, Lockley said: "I will be putting my truck up for sale as well as jewelry."

MacGregor explains, "If they've filed for formal bankruptcy, if there are secured lenders, such as banks, then they get first dibs at whatever funds there are. If the restaurant is registered as a limited company, they only have to look at the assets of the company to determine what funds are there. If the company has no assets whatsoever other than a few tables and chairs, the chances of recovering the money that is owed become slim." 

She added that if the employer wants to do the honourable thing, they should try to find every possible way to pay off all their creditors, including their employees.  

"They are going through liquidation and I don't know how much debt they have with banks and other people," Ridolfi said. "If there's enough money to just pay us even a little bit, that would be great."

According to MacGregor, employees are low on the creditor list in a formal bankruptcy case because they are not considered secured creditors. "Quite often, the employees don't get what they're entitled to. They might get a certain percentage on the dollar, and I'm not saying that will happen in this situation, but I have seen that happen in situations where the employees maybe get 10 cents on the dollar that they're owed because that's all that's left after the secured creditors have been paid off." 

Despite the grim outlook, Ridolfi is trying her best to stay positive.

"We filed our complaints with employment services, we let everybody know of our situation, so the rest is kind of out of our hands, unfortunately."