Alice Waters' Employees Still Waiting On Severance

Employees of the recently shuttered Café Fanny in Berkeley, Calif., say they're still waiting for the severance pay co-owner Alice Waters promised them on television. A representative for Alice Waters and Chez Panisse tells us, however, that Waters personally paid back all her employees in full.

 

According to the Huffington Post, the 28-year-old restaurant closed suddenly in March, and the staff learned about the closure only the day before. They told the Huffington Post that co-owner Jim Maser told them about the closing and said they would not be receiving severance pay. Legally, the restaurant is not required to offer it.

 

But the day of the closing, Waters vowed to a line of reporters and cameras that she would take care of the staff and give them two weeks of severance pay, even if she had to pay it herself.

 

"We will take care of these employees," she said to a reporter from Berkeleyside. "It's a moral responsibility."

 

However, some employees are saying they still haven't received any severance pay and have heard nothing from Waters or her company, Chez Panisse.

 

"I assumed that we would be paid because that's what Alice told the press," a former staffer told The Huffington Post. "After we didn't receive any severance and we didn't hear anything back from Chez Panisse, it felt like she might have just said that for appearances."

 

Chez Panisse told The Huffington Post that Cafe Fanny is still going through the closure process, and that Waters would be funding the severance payment separately from the corporation. But 10 days later employees say they still have not heard anything.