Local brewery admits to late paychecks, pays nearly $583,000 to workers
Bald Birds Brewing Co. recently closed two taprooms. Regulators say the company was violating state wage law and some workers were unpaid for five weeks.
State regulators on Thursday announced that Bald Birds Brewing Co. violated state wage law at its Montgomery County and Lycoming County locations, and that the state recovered what amounted to several thousand dollars per worker.
But the brewery is taking issue with that description, contending that it voluntarily paid back staff after a payroll delay.
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration says it recovered more than $500,000 in wages and an additional more than $64,000 in damages for Bald Birds workers through an investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
Brewery owner Joey Feerrar said the business made those payments without “any enforcement action,” and “calculated the penalties itself.” Feerrar says the department “did not recover anything.”
All this took place during what seems to have been a time of change for Bald Birds. The company closed its taprooms in Audubon and King of Prussia over the summer, as it refocuses on manufacturing and distribution, according to the website Breweries in Pennsylvania. That work is done through a partnership with Yards Brewing Co. and Connecticut’s Two Roads, called B3 Beverage Co.
“There was no agreement. No settlement, order, or payment plan was ever proposed or signed,” Feerrar said in a statement.
State regulators said they started receiving complaints from Bald Birds workers in January. They directed the company to pay the late wages in August and the company did so a few days later, a department statement said.
“After reviewing the complaints and conducting an audit of the employer’s records, L&I determined Bald Birds Brewery failed over the course of several months to pay employees on time,” the statement reads.
The total paid was nearly $583,000 to 124 workers including wages and damages. Under the state’s wage law “liquidated damages may be assessed when wages remain unpaid for more than 30 days beyond a regularly scheduled payday,” according to L&I.
The state said many workers went five weeks without paychecks.
A state announcement Thursday put the total at nearly $650,000, but the Department of Labor & Industry corrected its own statement Friday.
“The Department’s irresponsible description of these events has had an immediate and significant impact on the company, including jeopardizing the livelihood of every employee they claim to be championing,” Feerrar said in a statement.
“We worked in good faith and transparency with the Department, striving to do the right thing in a difficult situation, and that diligence was erased in a few keystrokes,” Feerrar said
Bald Birds Brewing Company got its start in 2018 with a location in Audubon. Owner Feerrar joined the B3 partnership with Yards last year.
