This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Five Lehi Roller Mills workers opened their paychecks Tuesday to find letters informing them that they had quit.
The mill sent out 13 letters Tuesday informing workers who had walked out on work last Tuesday and skipped work Thursday and Friday that by not showing up they had effectively resigned.
"I didn't fire anybody," said Lehi Roller Mills president R. Sherman Robinson of allegations that he had fired the workers. "They voluntarily quit."
The workers' actions were in response to being paid late repeatedly, and culminated with a protest outside the mill on Monday.
On Monday, Robinson said the jobs of the workers were secure and that they could pick up a check on Tuesday.
They are still owed checks for work they had done before "quitting."
The letter they received Tuesday read, "Given you did not show up to work during your scheduled shift on July 5, 2012, Lehi Roller Mills views this as job abandonment, meaning you voluntarily terminated your position with the Company. Your last date of employment was July 5, 2012."
"I was hoping Monday I could meet with them to diffuse the situation and do something about this," Robinson said.
But Robinson said customer concern about product safety influenced him to write the letter.
"Their first question today was whether these people were going to retaliate," Robinson said of the customers who called worrying about possible repercussions of permitting the protesters to come back.
"I got different facts, and if that's not good enough, I changed my mind," Robinson said.
By releasing names of mill customers in their protest and forgoing work, Robinson said the workers had broken their contracts, which would be grounds for termination. But firings were not necessary, Robinson said, because the workers had already resigned.
This shock came a day after workers and their families protested at the 106-year-old mill. After a year of receiving late checks, 13 mill workers went on strike Thursday and Friday by not showing up for work.
Management workers filled in on those days to make up for the work. When the protesters saw these employees take their place, they assumed they were out of work.
They still assert that they have been fired.
"I didn't want to lose my job," said former worker Guillermo Rodriguez. "We just wanted to get their attention that day with the strike, we just wanted to get all our checks."
Robinson said the workers knew that they would be paid late as the company has struggled through the weak economy and has become accustomed to paying employees late in order to stay afloat.
The mill, once a backdrop in the movie "Footloose," produces around 100,000 pounds of flour a day for wholesale and offers various baking mixes on a retail level.
As Rodriguez started his search for a new job Tuesday night he said he would do his best to deal with what he's lost as a result of the late checks, the power to his apartment.
"I'm scared," Rodriguez said. "But I have to do it, for my family."
Termination letter
Lehi Roller Mills sent out 13 letters Tuesday that read, "Given you did not show up to work during your scheduled shift [July 5], Lehi Roller Mills views this as job abandonment, meaning you voluntarily terminated your position with the Company. Your last date of employment was July 5, 2012."