‘We Are Asking For What Belongs To Us’: Workers of shuttered Skokie factory file for unpaid wages, vacation time

Marcelina Ramirez was at work inside Simon Brothers Bakery this February when managers of the Skokie facility called her and about 60 of her coworkers into the cafeteria to deliver the news: The factory was shutting down, and they were out of a job in two weeks.

Her coworkers’ fell silent as they read papers handed to them; the sudden layoffs had both a huge financial and emotional impact, Ramirez said, particularly for the employees who had worked in the commercial bakery at 4820 Washington St. for decades.

And the administration of the layoffs may have also been, according to complaints that former Simon Bros Bakery workers filed with the Illinois Department of Labor, illegal. 

According to the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, employers with 75 or more full-time employees must provide their workforce and the state written notice 60 days in advance of any pending plant closures or mass layoffs. 

The law states employers who fail to give proper notice are liable to provide their workers up to 60 days of backpay. Additionally, the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act mandates employers compensate their employees for unused vacation time after they are let go.

Simon Brothers Bakery — which reportedly has operated in Skokie for 42 of its nearly 100 years in business supplying baked goods to restaurants and hotels across the country — had 89 employees ultimately affected by mass layoffs, state records show. 

Documents The Record obtained via a public-records request show at least 28 former employees of the Skokie factory filed complaints with the Illinois Department of Labor in March claiming Simon Brothers Bakery owes them a combined total of more than $62,000 in unpaid vacation time.

Standing before the Skokie Village Board on Sept. 8, Ramirez called on the village to support the workers’ claims, reading a letter signed by 30 former Simon Brothers workers who together reportedly gave the company over 400 years of work. 

“Simon Bros, in violation of the law, refuses to pay us the legal 45 days of wages they owe to us, plus our accrued vacation,” Ramirez said. Her remarks were translated from Spanish by Jorge Mújica, a labor organizer who helped file the complaints.

“Instead of negotiating, Simon Bros are selling the building. We are not asking for a gift. We are asking for what belongs to us according to the law.” 

In an emailed statement, Joy Poli, CEO of Strategic Talent Resources, a consulting company reportedly advising the owners of Simon Brothers Bakery, Michael and Kathy Bretz, explained the plant’s closure but did not address the workers’ claims. 

“After nearly 100 years, our family made the difficult decision to sell Simon Brothers Bakery after Sara Lee, our largest client of 40 years, ended our partnership with very short notice,” the statement says.

“Many of our employees were with us for 20 years or more, and we are deeply grateful for their dedication. We’re currently in negotiations with a new buyer and are hopeful the bakery’s story will continue.”

A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Labor said in a statement that “enforcement action is still open” for 17 cases filed against Simon Brothers Bakery but declined to disclose any responsive records as they could “interfere with active administrative enforcement proceedings.”

If the claims are resolved in the workers’ favor, they could receive payments for what they are owed. For those interviewed, the abrupt layoffs and alleged lack of payment communicated little appreciation to the years of service they gave to the company. 

“It’s important to take into consideration all the people that worked here for years, and if in reality they appreciated us, they would give us a little compensation,” said Rodrigo Nava, an employee of 18 years. “A lot of us have 27, 30 years working there.”

‘It Hurt A Lot’

While Simon Brothers Bakery has long operated in Skokie, the business began on Chicago’s West Side when three brothers — Bill, Ben and Saul Simon — emigrated from Poland in the early 1920s, the company’s website states. 

According to a 2018 article the company links to, the brothers worked in a bakeshop before creating their own. They opened a wholesale Jewish bakery operation in 1952, Mike Bretz became an owner in 1970 and a fire in Albany Park in 1984 led him to relocate the business to Skokie.

The Record interviewed seven former Simon Brothers Bakery workers on Sept. 17. Their labor in the plant involved operating machinery, decorating cakes and packing boxes, they said. 

All recalled that management gathered them and approximately 53 of their coworkers in the building’s cafeteria on Feb. 13 to inform the workers they would be laid off on Feb. 28. 

Lilia M. De Nava, who worked for Simon Brothers Bakery for 21 years, said the news left them in “shock,” because no one had expected the plant to close so suddenly.

Josefina Vasquez said she worked for Simon Brothers Bakery for 29 years and was “very sad” when she learned she would be let go. An owner had tears in their eyes when they handed her papers and said “sorry”, but “with tears I was not going to recover anything,” Vasquez said. 

Maria Luisa Tores worked for the company for 39 years and cried as she remembered going home on Feb. 13. After showing her husband the termination letter, her daughter told her she may have given Simon Brothers her life, but she is still alive and she still has her family, Suarez recalled

“It hurt a lot. No money. We didn’t have savings. No compensation for giving my whole life there, also my youth,” Tores said. 

Those interviewed said after the layoffs many of their coworkers felt sick as they scrambled to obtain new health insurance in order to secure needed medication and scheduled doctor’s visits.

The workers’ letter to the Village Board alleged the company originally argued the layoffs were “temporary” before later admitting months later they were permanent.

Village of Skokie attorney Steve Elrod clarified village staff have no jurisdiction over the workers’ complaints.

Ramirez, who worked at Simon Brothers Bakery for five years, said she showed the company’s termination letter to her daughter-in-law, an attorney, who suggested the layoffs may not have been legal.

After struggling to find affordable representation, Ramirez eventually got in touch with Mújica. 

‘They Cannot Take the Money and Run’

The Record contacted Simon Brothers Bakery and the Illinois Department of Labor but could not confirm when exactly the Skokie facility shut down and how much money it would cost the company to compensate their workers’ backpay and unused vacation time. 

The Illinois Department of Labor received at least 18 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act complaints against Simon Brothers Bakery this year, and all of the complaints state workers were told on Feb. 13 the company would close down on Feb. 28, records show. 

Yet an online archive of monthly Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification reports shows the Illinois Department of Labor received a notice from Simon Brothers Bakery on July 14 that says the company’s first and last date of layoffs was on June 30, that 89 workers were “affected” and the layoffs were caused by a lost contract.

Reached by phone, Mark Ahmad, a Century 21 real estate broker who is helping sell the building, said the company’s site at 4820 Washington St. went up for sale in July.

The property is a two-story, 26,000-square-foot “food processing manufacturing” facility going for $2.6 million, according to an online listing.

Only a portion of the dozens of laid-off workers filed formal claims against Simon Brothers Bakery, but Mújica said only one complaint is necessary for the Illinois Department of Labor to initiate an investigation.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act states that after receiving a complaint against a company the Illinois Department of Labor has the authority to examine the books and records of an employer to determine if they have violated the law. 

Likewise, the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act states the Department of Labor has the power to administer subpoenas and examine witnesses. If the agency rules against an employer, the law says, the state may collect and pay out proceeds to those entitled.

“Employers have rights, among them the right to open or close a company whenever they want. But workers have rights too, and employers have to respect those rights,” Mújica said.

“In this particular case, it’s outrageous because people were working their 20, 22, 28 years, and to be told two weeks before closing that, ‘Oh, you’re gone.’ And that’s it, no compensation, not even your last check, not even your vacation time — that’s outrageous.”

“You know, it shouldn’t happen,” Mújica continued. “Employers have to learn that that cannot happen. They cannot take the money and run.”

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