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Toronto man still allowed to employ staff despite owing more than $1M in wages, fines (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 1 week ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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Ontario's Ministry of Labour published a news release in late May alerting the public that a Toronto businessman and his private school were fined $410,000 for failing to comply with orders to pay wages.

At the time, those fines were already two weeks past due with the courts.

Anchuan Jiang and his company Ontario International College were convicted under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) in March for not paying nearly $185,000 in wages owed to 14 employees as ordered. On top of the fines, there was also a 25 per cent victim surcharge. Both were supposed to be paid in Toronto's provincial offences court by May 12.

But they weren't.

As of last week, Jiang hadn't paid a cent of the $580,730 in fines and surcharges, according to Toronto's court services division.

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[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 43 points 1 week ago

Steal $1m, straight to jail. Unless you steal from your employees, in which case the bureaucracy will write strongly worded letters and perhaps even place a lien on your home!

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 week ago

This is the basis for poor and marginalized people being locked away in American prisons. Debtor prison is a bad idea, even if it sounds good.

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 week ago

The prison time is not for the debt. It’s for the crime of theft. Again - he stole from his employees.

[-] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 week ago

I'm surprised anyone would still work for this person. If the boss stops paying people, it's time to find different work.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 week ago

It's getting tougher to find a job out there. Canada's unemployment rate is 7%, Toronto's is 8.8%, Oshawa's is 9.1% and Windsor's is 10.8.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

But what's the point if your working but not being paid then you literally became a slave, but worse because he doesn't have to feed our house you. So why the fuck would I stay? I want to know why they don't drag this motherfucker in the streets until they get paid?

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

So why the fuck would I stay?

“Oh your cheque bounced, I’ll get you later this week” because these assholes will lead people on for months.

I want to know why they don't drag this motherfucker in the streets until they get paid?

I think that’s fair, but he’s part of the managerial class. He’ll continue to steal from people, and the people who drag through the streets will be punished.

[-] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

That's a good point, not everyone has the luxury to change jobs. Hopefully something actually comes of this and those workers get their owed earnings + extra for the hassle.

[-] DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago

If you look at who is doing the work it'll give you a clue.

Most of them were international students who'd recently graduated or other newcomers working their first job in Canada.

Getting a job when your first language isn't English is hard. It's also hard when all of your references might not speak English, are half a world away, and you don't really have a "network" in Canada. You might be willing to put up with a lot of shit in order to have some work history in Canada.