Mississauga company ordered to pay employee in wage theft case
Published November 15, 2022 at 4:13 pm
A Mississauga employee who protested over wage theft should soon get paid.
Naujawan Support Network, a group of students and international workers, protested outside Parts Avatar in Mississauga in early October.
They were fighting for an employee who said she hadn’t been paid overtime or vacation pay and is owed more than $9,000.
Parts Avatar, an online auto parts company located near Pearson Airport, did not respond to requests for comment on the protest from insauga.com. But in documents from the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development Employment Standards Program, Parts Avatar said the employee committed fraud and left her job to stop them from looking into it.
But the company has been ordered to pay wages and compensation, Anu Dhar, spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development Employment Standards Program tells insauga.com.
The company must pay $8,800.53 in unpaid wages and compensation to the former worker.
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WhatsApp messages between the employee and Parts Avatar show a disagreement over work hours, according to the Reasons for Decision document from the Ministry.
In the document, Parts Avatar said the employee took long breaks and accused her of “time theft” meaning she claimed she worked when didn’t.
The employee said her job required her to travel between warehouses and assist drivers along with other tasks that took her out of the office. She also did take breaks as she was entitled to do.
“…the fact that the claimant was not visible on a camera does not mean she was not working,” the Ministry stated.
The Ministry found that the employee didn’t receive pay from Sept. 1 to 18, 2021. She is entitled to the wages, overtime pay and vacation pay earned during this period.
“As such, the employer must pay the claimant for the wages she earned,” the Ministry stated.
The Ministry also found the company threatened her in the What’s App messages.
“Any harm you have caused me I know you will eventually answer for it in other ways,” one message from the employer read.
The employer also said he had contacted immigration to revoke letters on her job status — saying it was with its rights as she no longer worked for Parts Avatar.
“After the claimant asked the employer to pay her wages owing, the employer began to threaten and intimidate the claimant,” the Ministry stated.
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