A judge has ruled that former employees of Koffee Kup Bakery must be paid out for paid time off they had accrued before the company shutdown in April.
Chittenden Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar decided Wednesday that the 500 employees of the bakery must be paid some $812,000 plus $16,000 in interest for paid time off, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.
The Burlington-based Koffee Kup, which includes the Vermont Bread Company in Brattleboro, and Superior Bakery in North Grosvenor Dale, Conn., closed abruptly in April due to financial problems. Georgia-based Flower Foods purchased Koffee Kup Bakery’s assets in June.
Former employees received their final paychecks but then had the payouts for paid time off rescinded by the person overseeing the bakery’s assets.
The judge said he would dissolve the receivership once the bakery’s real estate assets were sold and create a new one to adjudicate the sale of the rest of the assets.
Other creditors are seeking to recoup some $2 million they say they are owed by the bakery. Those creditors include another bakery, transportation companies, former executives, landlords and a lobbying firm, the newspaper reported.
The judge has already approved $8 million in payments to creditors, with the bulk of that going to KeyBank, the company’s primary lender.