BLOOMINGTON - To say the least, Jennifer Florek is not happy that she basically worked for free during her last few weeks at Bloomington's Ned Kelly's Steakhouse.

The restaurant server's last full paycheck for $135 bounced at the bank, and she also hasn't received payment for her last two shifts before Ned Kelly's closed Aug. 18. Other employees received a voided final check and a letter from owner John Schmitt explaining the company's bank account did not have sufficient funds to cash the entire payroll.

"It's like he wrote a bad check. If I wrote a bad check, I would get in trouble, and he wrote how many of them?" Florek said. "I don't really have words right now for how mad I am - that you can print." Schmitt did not return phone calls.

The Australian-themed restaurant once employed about 85 people. It's unclear how many people received voided checks. The complete extent of the company's debts, including utility and rent payments, also is not disclosed.

After 15 years in the Brandtville Center at Veterans Parkway and Morrissey Drive, Ned Kelly's Steakhouse closed last month for financial reasons. Schmitt previously said competition from bigger chain restaurants led to his smaller, four-restaurant chain's closure. Locations in Urbana, Peoria and Springfield closed earlier this year.

Ned Kelly's Ventures LLC also filed for and recently received Chapter 7 bankruptcy on the Peoria and Springfield eateries. It's unknown if a Chapter 7 filing is ahead for the Bloomington location.

Schmitt now manages at Duffy McKaw's, a tropical-themed bar and grill at the Links at Ireland Grove golf course in east Bloomington. Schmitt's attorney Robert Ropp with Ostling & Associates was not available Monday.

Ned Kelly's also owes property owner Brandtville Service money for utilities and rent, said John Brandt, president of Brandtville Service. Brandt declined to specify how far behind Schmitt is on those payments.

"I don't know how it's going to turn out," Brandt said.

Florek said, thankfully, she didn't bounce any of her own checks while she thought she had funds from work in her account. But still, she's missing money she's owed.

"The bottom line is every employee should receive wages that are owed to him or her," said Anjali Julka, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Labor. "We'd have to see what the specific case is."

That's because it doesn't always work out that way. If an employer files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, complaint cases for unpaid wages would be dismissed because the owner really does not have the money to pay them, Julka said.

"That would be really unfortunate for them," she said.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy generally clears debt for a business while chapters 11 and 13 reorganize debts and create repayment plans so a business can continue operations.

Employees can file a complaint with the labor department through its Web site at www.state.il.us/agency/idol or by calling the Springfield office at (217) 782-6206.