Hooters on South College Street closed its doors for good Jan. 3.
Yet, as a new restaurant opened in the same location Monday, many issues remained unsolved for the building’s former employees.
On Feb. 19, former Auburn Hooters General Manager Jerry Adams appeared before the Auburn City Council. He asked that the liquor license for the new restaurant, Bogies Bar and Grill, be tabled until he and his employees received approximately $8,000 owed from their last three weeks of work, as well as their W-2 tax forms.
Much of the talk centered on Tom Hayley, of the Hayley-Redd Development Company.
Adams contended Hayley was part owner of Hooters and Bogies and also the owner of the building itself.
Hayley said he was merely the owner of the building and not involved with ownership of either business. According to Hayley, Alabama Wings LLC was the sole owner of the restaurant.
“We just had a landlord/tenant relationship, and that’s exactly what I have with Bogies,” Hayley said.
Adams told a different story. He said Hayley was the signer of the employee paychecks and that he delivered them to the store on paydays. Adams was the general manager from August 2007 to January 2008.
“Hooters of Auburn was owned and operated by Tom Hayley,” Adams said. “I worked for him.”
Hayley explained he was doing the payroll account for the actual owners.
James McLaughlin, the attorney for Hayley, spoke in response to Adams at the city council meeting. He explained Hayley was involved in an ongoing dispute with the former majority owner of the restaurant, who is now employing Adams.
Hayley’s lawyer also said Hayley was a minority owner of the company that managed the Auburn Hooters, according to the minutes of the Feb. 19 city council meeting.
The day after Hooters was closed, several employees, including Adams, went to the Hayley-Redd office to get their paychecks.
Hayley told them their checks would be mailed. He also threatened to call the cops if they did not leave the premises.
As of last Monday, none of the employees had received their paychecks or W-2s.
Adams, who was owed approximately $1900, did not have any money coming in for a month. The husband and father, now a manager at the Montgomery Hooters, had to go to a cash advance store to get by until he got paid.
The city council members said they were unable to legally grant Adam’s request to table the license ordinance.
Councilman Robin Kelly said the issue did not belong at the meeting.
“They were trying to exploit money out of someone, that’s my opinion,” Kelly said.
Hayley said he did not know that former employees were coming to the meeting.
“I think Jim (McLaughlin) was there for another reason, but they have represented me for 30 years,” Hayley said.
Hayley has been accused of unethical business practices before.
According to a local business owner who had previous dealings with Hayley, the lease had hidden personal guarantees and landlord liens.
Hayley also tried to include a deal in the lease so a certain percent of revenue from the business would go to Hayley-owned radio stations for advertising.
The owner said the back of the contract stated there was a period of time to cancel the radio deal. However, Hayley wrote non-cancellable on the front in order to mislead them into thinking it was just that.
“The other problem (with the radio contract) is he now knows how much money you’re making,” the owner said. “If he knows that, and he’s doing a five year lease, he’s going to bump your lease up the next 5 years if you’re making money.”
The owner, who wished not to be named, has since moved on to other business ventures.
According to Adams, Darrell Spikes, the owner of Alabama Wings LLC, was involved in the sale of the franchise to Eddie Baldwin, owner of the Montgomery Hooters.
Adams said the transfer of ownership, which would have kept the restaurant open, was stopped due to a large amount of debt from the restaurant owed by Hayley.
“He owed Hooters of America roughly $50,000,” Adams said.
Adams said he had receipts to support that information.
“I had to pay for all my product up front because his vendors wouldn’t deliver anything on account anymore, such as produce and food,” Adams said.
