Workers fired in reprisal for asserting their rights under the Employment Standards Act, says government
Ontario employer Shawn Roy Lightfoot—operating as The Project Kings, Dutton, Ontario—has been fined $62,000 for failing to pay wages and compensate workers after firing them in reprisal, according to the provincial government.
After an ex parte trial in the Provincial Offences Court in St. Thomas, Justice of the Peace Jason Voss fined Shawn Roy Lightfoot and also ordered the employer to pay over $20,000 in unpaid wages and compensation to the affected employees via the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge on the defendant, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
On Aug. 5, 2022, an employment standards officer issued four orders for the defendant to pay unpaid wages and compensation for the reprisals, totalling over $20,000. The officer also issued two Notices of Contravention totalling $500 in penalties.
However, the defendant did not comply with any of the six orders, nor did he apply for a review of the orders, said the Ontario government.
Shawn Roy Lightfoot was found guilty of six counts of failing to comply with orders issued by an employment standards officer and was fined a total of $62,000 plus the victim fine surcharge. This amount does not include the owed wages and compensation.
“The defendant failed to comply with orders to pay wages to two employees and compensation for terminating them in reprisal for asserting their rights under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). This is a violation of section 132 of the Act,” said the Ontario government.
Section 132 of the Act reads:
A person who contravenes this Act or the regulations or fails to comply with an order, direction or other requirement under this Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable,
(a) if the person is an individual, to a fine of not more than $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 12 months or to both;
(b) subject to clause (c), if the person is a corporation, to a fine of not more than $100,000; and
(c) if the person is a corporation that has previously been convicted of an offence under this Act or a predecessor to it,
(i) if the person has one previous conviction, to a fine of not more than $250,000, and
(ii) if the person has more than one previous conviction, to a fine of not more than $500,000.
