Sweet Lady Jane, a bakery beloved by Angelenos and a celebrity clientele, unexpectedly shuttered six locations on New Year’s Day, citing a lack of sales that prevented it from paying its “treasured employees.”

But for some former workers at the dessert chain, the message rang hollow.

For nearly seven months, the companies behind Sweet Lady Jane have been embroiled in a class-action lawsuit filed by an employee who alleged wage theft, according to court documents reviewed by The Times. Employees also said the company suffered from mismanagement.

[Karen covered the surprise closures in a Headlines item shortly after New Years. Most of us assumed that the bakery was complaining about California’s minimum-wage hike and escalating regulatory and tax costs. Those may still have played a role, but the lawsuit alleges a significant pattern of wage abuse too. The owners offered employees a severance package on the condition that they not join the lawsuit, which is … curious. Stay tuned. — Ed]