OGDEN — Several former employees of an Ogden restaurant have filed claims with the Utah Labor Commission alleging that they are owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages.

“Even pre-COVID, she basically has been behind on payroll ever since then,” ex-employee Irish Thornhill said of Karen Larrabee, owner of Bickering Sisters. “She kept talking about loans — ‘just hang in there’ — I stayed because I believed her.”

Larrabee said Tuesday she already contacted the Utah Labor Commission asking the agency to help arbitrate the cases so employees could be paid, but was told that process could not begin until an employee filed a claim. “I’ve been trying to work out something that I pay everybody,” she said.

Thornhill, who had worked for the restaurant since 2016, quit two weeks ago after she said Larrabee did not follow through on a promise to pay her owed wages. She said that on that day, Larrabee said she had only $200 and Thornhill would have to split that with another employee.

“I’m disposable to her,” Thornhill said. “Six years, she never even cared.”

Thornhill said that a year ago she began keeping weekly track of wages owed to her. When she quit, she still was owed more than $2,100, she said.

“We’ve been begging her to pay us,” Thornhill said. “Now I’m going to do what I have to do.”

She and another former employee, Josh Hurst, said they had filed unpaid-wage claims with the Labor Commission. Hurst said he is owed $4,400. They both approached the Standard-Examiner with their complaints as well.

Larrabee acknowledges she owes money to Hurst and Thornhill, “but I don’t know those are the amounts I would agree to.”

Commission spokesperson Eric Olsen said Tuesday that the agency has received wage complaints about Bickering Sisters and has opened an investigation. He declined further comment while an investigation is in progress.

According to Utah law, the state may fine an employer 5% of the unpaid wages, the penalty assessed daily until the employee is paid, up to 20 days. An employer also may be fined up to $500 each year for repeated violations of the unpaid wages law.

Hurst said he was a server at Bickering Sisters, but quit after not being paid for months. “I don’t know why she just didn’t at least do a payoff plan, $20 here, $40 there,” Hurst said.

The former employees provided group texts they said were conversations between Larrabee and the restaurant’s workers about pay issues. Larrabee said in one thread that business started “very slow” at its new location at the Ogden-Hinckley Airport. She said restaurant sales had to reach a certain level before she could bring everyone current. “I really do want to get everybody paid asap,” she wrote to the group.

“We’re tired of hearing the same old thing,” Thornhill said Tuesday. “I have overdue bills. My bank account is in the negative and two kids to provide for.”

Larrabee said she closed Bickering Sisters’ other location on Grant Avenue in May. She said most of the unpaid wages were from the Grant location.

She said she applied two years ago for a Small Business Administration loan tied to COVID-19 economic relief. “It was a good loan, $435,000,” she said. “I jumped through all the hoops and thought I was going to get it. At the last minute they said no.”

She said she kept staff on in anticipation of the loan. “That’s when I got behind,” she said. “I probably should have laid people off a long time ago.”

Larrabee said she was disappointed the former employees went to the media. “It’s only hurting them to do this,” she said. “It’s hurting the business and just makes it more difficult to get them paid back.”

With business picking up at the restaurant, she said, “We’re finally getting into a good situation where I can really pay people back.”

She said she has not paid herself for two years and in that time has been supported by her mother. “It’s not like I’m running around town spending money all over the place,” she said.

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