A Kelowna contractor found guilty of exploiting foreign workers must pay more than $ 90,000 in unpaid wages.
Local companies Everlasting Stucco and Stone hired three workers under the temporary staffing program in 2018, according to an appeal ruling by the BC Employment Standards Tribunal.
The workers were hired as plasterers for two years, but their contracts were revised a month later, resulting in a $ 10 wage cut, as well as the elimination of overtime and statutory vacation pay.
According to the labor court, the three workers never agreed to the changes but did not report them because they feared their immigration status would be jeopardized.
In his appeal, Everlasting Stucco alleged that two companies were actually involved in the employment of the workers.
The original contract stipulated that Harkanwaldeep Singh’s employees would be hired as sole proprietors of the company before being terminated and reinstated by Everlasting Stucco Company.
However, the tribunal denied the company’s request, stating that the transition from a sole proprietorship to a business unit did not change the terms and conditions of employment for the three workers.
The three were fired from their jobs on June 13, 2019. Afterward, they filed complaints alleging that Everlasting Stucco had not paid her for all hours worked, overtime, annual vacation and statutory vacation pay.
The company has now been ordered to pay owed wages of $ 90,648.10 and a fine of $ 2,500.
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