More than 200 former employees of a defunct Lincolnwood bakery picked up their checks this week after settling a lawsuit claiming owners failed to properly notify workers of the business's abrupt closing in late 2011.

"The last 18 months have been quite a journey," said Karen Leyva, a former office manager at Rolf's Patisserie. "After all of the emotional ups and downs, it is good to feel victorious at this point and to be able to stand with my co-workers."

Employees filed a federal suit in early 2012 alleging that Rolf's President Lloyd Culbertson and secretary Ford Culbertson failed to alert them that the business was closing, as required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act.

Workers had also claimed their final paychecks bounced and they had been denied payouts for unused vacation time.

Neither Ford nor Lloyd Culbertson could be reached for comment Thursday. A message still on the company's website, dated Dec. 10, 2011, announces "with deep regret" the bakery's immediate closing, citing "sharply higher operating costs, the cost of financing an expansion project and the inability to operationally meet the seasonal demands of our customers."

Employees sought assistance from the interfaith labor advocacy group Arise Chicago and the law firm Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the company paid about $150,000 to settle the dispute over final paychecks and vacation time, said Sean Morales-Doyle, an attorney with the firm.

The two parties reached a settlement earlier this year over alleged WARN Act violations stemming from the bakery's closing and a temporary closing in December 2010, Morales-Doyle said.

That month, the bakery was shut down after its desserts sickened about 100 people in Illinois and Wisconsin, according to news reports at the time and an Illinois Department of Health spokeswoman. The business reopened that same month after a thorough cleaning, the spokeswoman said.

On Wednesday, Leyva and 227 of her former colleagues picked up their share of final settlement, checks totaling about $200,000.

"One thing I heard repeatedly talking to the group was they were not interested in a never-ending legal battle," said Adam Kader with Arise Chicago. "They were just interested in getting some degree of justice."

Some former Rolf's employees have found employment, Kader said. Others. like Leyva, remain jobless. While grateful for the settlement, Leyva said she missed the familylike atmosphere she felt at Rolf's.

"Rolf's was my home," she said. "I tear up even as I tell you it was a good job. I loved the people that I worked with."

jbullington@tribune.com