A dozen workers fired by a Chandler Pei Wei Restaurant

A dozen workforce who had been fired by a Chandler Pei Wei restaurant claim it had been due to the controversial new immigration law.

The staff tell us they were definitely let go immediately after they attended a rally against SB 1070, but the restaurant affirms there may be more towards story. They apparently skipped out on their scheduled shifts to attend the protest.

Those 12 former staff want their jobs back again, and are also asking for back pay and an apology from Pei Wei. They say other workforce who decided not to present up to function had been punished -- not fired -- and they shouldn't happen to be treated differently.

They're now taking their protest to Pei Wei's front door.

"I believed they had been planning to assistance us in a single way but they didn't," affirms Elizabeth Serafin, who was fired. She claims she failed to call in May 29 due to the fact other employees had asked for the day time off but were definitely denied.

Twelve on the store's 30 workforce didn't display up for perform to march from the anti-SB 1070 protest.

"We ended up hungry, we ended up thirsty¡­ it absolutely was worse than gonna operate, we didn't do it for enjoyment!" states Serafin.

Serafin claims that when other employees have missed function inside past, without calling in, they were punished but not fired.

Yvonne Herrera also lost her occupation. She worked for Pei Wei for 10 years like a cook, without having actually acquiring a sick day time, she alleges.

Pei Wei issued the following statement: "We have been disappointed that 12 workers from our Chandler place chose to violate a well-known attendance policy resulting in their termination. When workforce chose to not indicate up for any scheduled shift and selected to not give notice, it brings about tremendous disruption to fellow coworkers and impedes our power to serve our guests."

Serafin says she does not regret missing deliver the results to march for an concern she feels so strongly about.

'"We know [the immigration law] going to have an effect on our families and even our jobs¡­ there is certainly a lot of people coming from one more state. There may be a lot of white persons undertaking that, how come we're not performing it for ourselves?"

A local workers union is assisting the twelve people who were fired. Protesters say they continue to picket outside of Pei Wei from time to time.