After opening its doors last October, things seemed to be going great for the owners of Farmstead Market in Murrieta, until recently, when former employees who helped open the new location began picketing outside the store.

The former employees are claiming they were subjected to a hostile work environment and say they plan to continue to protest until their voices are heard. Farmstead Market, which is described as a hybrid marketplace that combines the best of natural-organic and traditional market offerings, is owned by business partners Craig Schleuniger and Rick Neugebauer.

Both owners have committed themselves to keeping with their mission statement of providing their staff with ongoing training, a pleasant work environment, and support to ensure their success.

The former employees that have taken this to the streets claim the fall of their work environment began when a new general manager, David Vered (who was hired shortly after the store opened in October 2012), came in and started throwing his weight around, or so they say.

"The owners have been nothing but tremendous, but when (Vered) came in, he violated labor laws and came in and cut a lot of people’s hours – who were full time – to 10, 15, 20 a week unfairly without any notice and then wouldn’t allow anybody to have a second job. He harassed employees and created a hostile work environment," said former employee Mary Reagan.

Many of the employees also claim there were several incidents in which employees’ names would be on the Advertisement

[ Metalography ] schedule with no hours listed next to them as well as instances where some employee’s time cards were allegedly changed.

"It was just cruel the way it all went down and we feel like the general public needs to be informed and that’s why we are here taking a stand," said former Farmstead butcher Dan Sohn.

Though David Vered was contacted by the Valley News, Vered said he was instructed to not provide any comments, however, co-owner Rick Neugebauer was available to give a statement and said, "We understand that these former employees just want to have their voices heard, and we hope to have some resolution soon."

Craig Schleuniger also publicly stated that even though they were forced to lay off some staff members and had to quickly hire a new general manger in David Vered, his long history of grocery store management gives them as owners the confidence that he had the proven capability to get them back on track. Hopefully in the months to come, the Farmstead Market will be able to re-hire new staff members as their business grows, and they say they appreciate the support from the community and look forward to being of service for many years to come.

The former employees and even some that are still employed but not on the schedules have been encouraging customers to stop shopping at Farmstead Market and say they will continue to protest for a few hours each day until there is a more suitable resolution.