Typhoon!, the Portland-based Thai food chain closed its Bend restaurant this weekend, along with four other Oregon locations and one restaurant in Redmond, Wash.
Bo, the bar also located in the Franklin Crossing building, closed, as well.
Bo Kline, the chef responsible for Typhoon!’s highly acclaimed dishes and president of the company, said in a news release that the loss of her husband last year made running the company too great a challenge and had taken a toll on her health.
The closure comes on the heels of formal charges filed in December by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry against the chain for multiple violations of state civil rights laws. BOLI found that the company “used its leverage over workers recruited from Thailand to impose lower pay, longer hours and unfavorable contract terms,” according to a December news release from the agency.
The company could be fined as much as $250,000 per affected employee if BOLI finds it guilty after proceedings scheduled for May, according to the BOLI news release.
Typhoon! was found guilty of similar violations of labor laws by the United States Department of Labor in 2004 and payed nearly $200,000 in fines at that time.
About 200 people lost their jobs as a result of the closure, according to the Typhoon! news release.
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
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Did Bo Restobar close too?
thanks to regulators, there are 200+ more people without a job. On top of that, a number of really good restaurants have been shut down. Bend just lost its best Thai option.
I want a government to help enforce private contracts, not to tell people how to write them.
Bummer. That kind of explains the not so perfect take out I had sat. My heart goes out to all of our locals that work there & their families. Very sad.