Fired Snarf's Sandwiches Employees To Get Jobs Back And One Month's Pay

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 3, 2014 7:00PM

Twenty Snarf’s Sandwiches employees who were unceremoniously fired from their jobs in December received a welcome February gift in the form of having their jobs reinstated with one month’s back pay, to boot.

The agreement between the employees and the Colorado-based sandwich shop chain came about after reports of the firing were followed with numerous articles and subsequent outrage from labor rights groups. The employees were fired via email, three days before Christmas. Ownership cited “increased competition and losses” for the move and indicated there would be a possible re-concepting of the store at 600 W. Chicago Ave. into a burger joint.

The Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, a union representing fast food and retail workers in the fight to achieve a $15 minimum hourly wage, helped broker the deal. Deivid Rojas, spokesman for the group, told Chicagoist any Snarf’s employees who didn’t find new jobs after being fired would be welcome back immediately. As for whether the 20 employees would continue to participate in the “Fight for $15” Rojas said that would be up to the Snarf’s employees but that the union would respect their decision, regardless.

Kevin Brown, one of the Snarf's employees, said the fight was worth it. “I’m happy to get back pay and be offered reinstatement. We stood together and as a result we were able to resolve this in a good manner. It’s important because we can’t let employers get away with mistreating employees. When we take a stand together, we prove that we can hold employers accountable.”

Any Snarf’s employees who do return to work would do so at the hourly wage they earned before being fired.