Case: 1:18-cv-06731 Document #: 1 Filed: 10/04/18 Page 1 of 6 PageID #:1

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION

United Food and Commercial Workers

International Union, Local 1546, a labor
organization,

Plaintiff,

v.
Case No.: 18-cv-06731
Treasure Island Foods, Inc.; Treasure Island Foods
Montrose Corp.; The Magazi, Inc.; and Patrick
Cavanaugh, in his capacity as Trustee-Assignee for
Treasure Island Foods, Inc., Treasure Island Foods
Montrose Corp., and The Magazi, Inc.,

Defendants.

COMPLAINT

Plaintiff, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Lo-

cal 1546, brings this action under the WARN Act and IWPCA in its representative capacity

on behalf of employees it represents as exclusive collective-bargaining representative.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

1. This action is brought under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifica-

tion Act (“WARN Act”), 29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq., and the Illinois Wage Payment and Col-

lection Act (“IWPCA”), 820 ILCS 115/1 et seq.

2. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 2104(a)(5)

and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1367.

3. Venue in this district is proper under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391(b)(1) and (2) because

all Defendants maintaining their respective principal places of business within this judicial
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district, and the events alleged in this complaint that give rise to Plaintiff’s claims occurred

in this judicial district.

PARTIES

4. Defendants Treasure Island Foods, Inc. (“TIF”), Treasure Island Foods

Montrose Corp. (“TIFM”) and The Magazi, Inc. (“Magazi”) are Illinois corporations that

operate retail grocery stores under the Treasure Island name in the Chicago area. TIF and

TIFM have their principal place of business in Chicago, Illinois. Magazi has its principal

place of business in Wilmette, Illinois.

5. Defendant Patrick Cavanaugh is an individual with his principal place of

business in Chicago, Illinois. He is the Trustee-Assignee for TIF, TIFM, and Magazi pursu-

ant to an assignment for the benefit of creditors. Since about September 26, 2018,

Cavanaugh, in his capacity as Trustee-Assignee, controls the day-to-day operations of the

retail grocery stores previously operated by TIF, TIFM, and Magazi.

6. At all relevant times, TIF, TIFM, and Magazi have constituted a single em-

ployer within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, the WARN Act, and the

IWPCA, as they had common ownership, common management, shared the same offices,

and had centralized control over labor relations for the employees working at the stores

owned by each entity.

7. Since about September 26, 2018, Cavanaugh, in his capacity as Trustee-

Assignee, has been a successor to TIF, TIFM, and Magazi within the meaning of the Na-

tional Labor Relations Act, the WARN Act, and the IWPCA, having continued to operate

the businesses of TIF, TIFM, and Magazi in a continuous fashion, having initially retained

all of those entities’ employees, and having assumed control of those entities’ assets and op-

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erations with knowledge of the those entities’ contractual and statutory liabilities and obliga-

tions both to their employees and to Plaintiff United Food and Commercial Workers Inter-

national Union, Local 1546 (“Union” or “Plaintiff”). Cavanaugh, TIF, TIFM, and Magazi

are referred to collectively herein as “Treasure Island.”

8. The Plaintiff Union is a labor organization that is the exclusive collective-

bargaining representative of a bargaining unit of approximately twenty-eight of Treasure Is-

land’s current and former employees (the “Bargaining-Unit Employees”) working under a

collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) in effect at all relevant times. The Union is an un-

incorporated association with its principal place of business in Chicago, Illinois.

COUNT I — WARN ACT

9. The Union brings this claim under the WARN Act as a representative on be-

half of each of Treasure Island’s current and former Bargaining-Unit Employees pursuant to

29 U.S.C. § 2104(a)(5).

10. At all relevant times, Treasure Island has employed more than 100 employees

(including but not limited to the approximately twenty-eight Bargaining-Unit Employees)

who in the aggregate work more than 4,000 hours per week at seven stores (the “Stores”) in

the Chicago area: 3460 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60657; 2121 N. Clybourn St., Chicago,

IL 60614; 680 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60611; 75 W. Elm St., Chicago, IL 60614;

1639 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL 60614; 1526 E. 55th St., Chicago, IL 60615; and 911 Ridge

Rd., Wilmette, IL 60091. Treasure Island has at all relevant times been an “employer” with-

in the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(1).

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11. At all relevant times, the Bargaining-Unit Employees were employed by

Treasure Island at the Stores and were “affected employees” within the meaning of 29

U.S.C. § 2101(a)(5).

12. Treasure Island’s seven Stores in the Chicago area constitute a “single site of

employment” within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(2).

13. On or about September 26, 2018, Treasure Island ordered the closing of all

seven Stores within the following two weeks, resulting in the termination of more than fifty

employees, excluding part-time employees, constituting a “plant closing” within the mean-

ing of 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(2).

14. On or about September 26, 2018, Treasure Island provided a hand-delivered

letter to all employees, including all Bargaining-Unit Employees, stating that it would close

all of its Stores during a fourteen-day period beginning October 12, 2018. The notice stated

that some employees would be terminated effective immediately, and all remaining employ-

ees would be terminated as the Stores closed, i.e. no later than October 26, 2018.

15. Pursuant to this letter, all Bargaining-Unit Employees have been or will be

terminated between September 26, 2018, and October 26, 2018. These employees will all

have been terminated prior to the end of a sixty-day period after service of written notice of

the closing on either the Bargaining-Unit Employees or the Union, in violation of the

WARN Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2102(a).

16. As a consequence of Treasure Island’s failure to comply with the WARN Act,

the Bargaining-Unit Employees are entitled to the amount of back pay and benefits due un-

der the CBA for the period of the violation, up to sixty days.

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17. The Bargaining-Unit Employees are “aggrieved employee[s]” of the Treasure

Island within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. 2104(a)(7).

COUNT II — IWPCA

18. Plaintiff incorporates paragraphs 1-17 by reference as though fully set forth

herein.

19. Pursuant to the CBA between Treasure Island and the Union, Bargaining-

Unit Employees with at least one year of employment are entitled to one to five weeks of

paid vacation each year, depending upon their years of service and when they were hired.

20. Many of the Bargaining-Unit Employees terminated on or since Septem-

ber 26, 2018, had worked for Treasure Island for more than one year and were entitled to

paid vacation but had not yet taken all of the vacation to which they were contractually enti-

tled. Under the IWPCA, they are entitled to be paid for these unused weeks of vacation as

part of their “final compensation.” 820 ILCS 115/5.

21. Treasure Island has not paid the Bargaining-Unit Employees terminated on or

since September 26, 2018, for their earned but unused vacation.

22. These aggrieved Bargaining-Unit Employees have standing individually to

sue for payment of their earned vacation time under the IWPCA.

23. The Union exists to protect the wages and working conditions of all employ-

ees on whose behalf it acts as exclusive collective-bargaining representative, including the

Bargaining-Unit Employees. Protection of the Bargaining-Unit Employees’ rights under the

IWPCA is therefore germane to the Union’s organizational purpose, and the Union has

standing to pursue the Bargaining-Unit Employees’ claims under the IWPCA on their be-

half.

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24. Under the IWPCA, the Bargaining-Unit Employees are entitled to their

earned, unpaid vacation time, plus two percent of the unpaid amount for each month during

which it remains unpaid. 820, ILCS 115/14.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully demands entry of judgment in favor of Plaintiff

on behalf of the Bargaining-Unit Employees and against Defendants:

A. in an amount equal to the sum of each Bargaining-Unit Employee’s unpaid

wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, and all

other compensation and benefits for sixty days, less the number of days of a WARN Act

Notice and any actual wages paid during that period, determined in accordance with the

WARN Act, 29 U.S.C. §2104(a); plus

B. an amount equal to the sum of each Bargaining-Unit Employee’s unpaid final

compensation, plus two percent of the amount of such unpaid compensation for each month

during which it remains unpaid, in accordance with the IWPCA, 820 ILCS 115/14; plus

C. Plaintiff’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in prosecuting this ac-

tion, as authorized by the WARN Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2104(a)(6), and the IWPCA, 820 ILCS

115/14(c); and

D. For such further or different relief as this Court may deem just and proper.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ David Huffman-Gottschling

One of Plaintiff’s Attorneys
Marisel Hernandez
David Huffman-Gottschling
Jacobs, Burns, Orlove & Hernandez
150 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1000
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 327-3443