TACOMA -- A once-prolific but now much-reduced Northwest restaurant chain is the focus of two class-action lawsuits involving former employees as well as job applicants.

The corporate entities tied to ownership of Shari's Cafe & Pies, with just a handful of locations remaining, are the focus of the two cases, one filed in Washington state and the other in Oregon.

The Washington case involves allegations of past job postings that ran afoul of salary and benefits information requirements, while the Oregon case is tied to the sudden layoffs and closures of Shari's Oregon properties.

Attempts to reach Shari's corporate legal department for comment on the cases were unsuccessful. An auto-reply generated by the email listed in its corporate filings with Washington state noted the recipient was "no longer at the company" and referred inquiries to other unrelated departments.