One former worker at Downtown Beer Tree has set up outside, claiming the employees are being mistreated and not compensated properly.

"I'm down here today in an attempt to bring attention to what I find to be an issue with the way that employment is being treated like communication, property payment, and just general mistreatment of employment", says Kenny Brown, a former cook at Downtown Beer Tree.

Brown says the restaurant failed to give four employees annual raises. One employee still did not have a raise, which was due in June. 

"I felt that it was necessary to stand up because I have worked for places in the past that have not been able to handle and have been able to get away with this. And I told myself, if this were to happen to me again or I were to witness this again, I would not let it happen" says Brown.

Brown was fired after a conversation with the owner regarding his concerns, saying he was frustrated.

The owners say brown was not fired for addressing the issue, but because of his behavior during the conversation.

"I don't think there's any room for that treatment because I'm not going to call up someone and one of my team members and say that I'm not going to scream f-bombs over the phone", says Chris Rhoades, Owner of Beer Tree.

On their part, Rhoades acknowledged they should have fixed the payroll issue and said employees will be given back pay.

Something he plans to be more adamant about moving forward.

"I think issues were brought up and they weren't they weren't addressed in a timely manner, and that's on us, that's on me, that's on my partners and our team that weren't able to address those properly", said Rhoades

Rhoades says, as a result, they've lost staff--forcing them to temporarily close on Mondays.  

"We try our best for this community, for our team. We try to always do right. And sometimes other people don't view it that way. And I wish that wasn't the case."

Both Rhoades and Brown said good things about each other but expressed frustration with how the situation was handled.