TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tony Friel owns 18 Moe’s Southwest Grill franchises between Tampa Bay and Orlando and admits his employees were paid four days late.
“It’s true, they were supposed to be paid on Friday and they weren’t paid,” Friel said.
Friel has around 250 employees that get paid bi-weekly. He says banks he does business with didn’t transfer funds from credit and debit sales from the Fourth of July holiday weekend quickly enough for him to make payroll.
“They shorted us about $325,000 on July 4 because they didn’t pay our credit card deposits and that rolled over to payroll,” Friel explained.
It’s why the franchise owner told 8 On Your Side he sent employees an email explaining he wouldn’t be able to pay them until a few days later.
“I said listen, I’m sorry there’s nothing we can do about it, you’re not going to get paid until early this week, so I myself put in about $115,000 to $125,000 of my own money.”
The payment delay prompted some of Friel’s employees to put signs outside his restaurants saying he had not paid them, so they were closing the stores.
Friel says all of his employees were paid by Tuesday evening.
“The only way this could’ve been worse is if it happened on July 30th when they had rent due.”
Friel opened his first Moe’s franchise in 2002 and says he’s never paid employees late. He’s taken extra measures to ensure this never occurs again.
