VISALIA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A “famous” Central Valley Steakhouse closed on Monday, but it wasn’t until employees walked in that they learned they were all laid off.
Crystal Ervin is one of the over 30 employees laid off from Tahoe Joe’s Famous Steakhouse in Visalia. The single mother says she has worked for the restaurant since 2011, but despite 15 years on the job, she wasn’t afforded any notice.
“It was terrible for me because I worked Monday morning, my usual Monday morning shifts that I had for the last six years at 10 a.m.; I guess they had sent out an email early in the morning like an emergency meeting.”
She said she didn’t get the email, so when she got there, she was taken completely off guard. The regional director was there, surrounded by the rest of the staff.
“He didn’t waste any time… Just basically said, ‘We’re closing the restaurant today, effective immediately.'”
The reason he gave: they never recovered from COVID. But he didn’t explain the lack of notice.
“I was shocked. I was shocked. I felt betrayed. And to be honest, I felt hurt; I felt like we just did not matter, you know, ever or at all… We had been in that in there so long just to be tossed like rags, you know, with nobody having any direction to go.”
She said everyone, including herself, is now scrambling to find new jobs. Bartending at the steakhouse was her primary source of income. Now, she’s left searching for a way to keep food on the table for her and her two young children.
“It was pretty devastating. I’m a single mom. I have two kids. I just bought a home about two months ago. And so to be left high and dry like that was, was pretty, it’s still detrimental.”
Going forward, she hopes that California laws will change to require prior notice, a change that she says could make a world of difference.
“I feel like if they could have given employers two weeks, heck, even one week, it gets them a jump start on getting an unemployment [claim] filled,” she said. “It gives them a jump on starting to find another job before they’re just left out on the street without anything.”
Ervin is still on the hunt for a new job, but remains hopeful that with her experience and drive, she will be one of the lucky ones to find employment.