UPDATE | Bainbridge Bakery has history of wage complaints with state

Published 3:32 pm Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Bainbridge Bakers has had nine complaints over wages from employees that have been filed with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

Five of those nine cases remain under investigation, according to an official with the agency.

A complaint over child safety, involving a teenage worker at the Bainbridge business, was also filed against Bainbridge Bakers.

Matthew Erlich of the Department of Labor & Industries said he could not provide details of the complaints that were under active investigation, and did not immediately have details on the cases from before 2015 that have been resolved.

Erlich said wage complaints are usually processed within 60 days.

“In most cases, a settlement is reached,” he added. “In very few cases, the employer is found to have followed the law and the complaint is dropped.”

Wage complaints are not uncommon, he added.

The department received 3,907 wage complaints last year, and a total of $2.1 million was returned to workers. Washington state has approximately 3 million workers and between 2,000 to 3,000 employers.

Bainbridge Bakers found itself in the media glare this week after a manager at the downtown Winslow mainstay launched an online appeal for donations to cover the wages of employees.

Ben Goldsmith, a manager at the bakery, set up a GoFundMe account Monday evening, and said $100,000 was needed to cover payroll and keep the bakery going.

Goldsmith — who said the online fundraiser had bakery owner Mike Loudon’s approval — claimed the business was suffering from a theft of funds but did not provide specifics.

Bainbridge police, however, said they have not received any reports of thefts at the business beyond a report in January when $159 went missing from the bakery.

Loudon has not been available for comment this week and was not at the bakery Wednesday when a reporter from the Review sought comment.