Employee Payroll Class Action Lawsuits

You can contact Neufeld Legal P.C. by telephone at 403-400-4092 or email Chris@NeufeldLegal.com

If you worked in the province of Alberta, why should your pay be calculated according to the laws of another province or country? Likewise, if you worked in another Canadian province, why should your pay be calculated according to the laws of another province or country? That is the fundamental question that is being addressed in our law firm's current class action lawsuits, given that critical payroll calculations, both during employment and upon termination, are appearing overwhelmingly consistent with the employment laws and statutes of other provinces or countries, as opposed to the province where the employees were actually employed; and using the laws and statutes of another province or country would result in the employer paying less to their employees.

HOW COULD EMPLOYEE PAYROLL BE SO WRONG

How could this be possible and what is the impact to me as an employee or former employee? We can speculate as to the reasons for this happening; however, the most critical aspect would appear to be an overreliance upon payroll software that emanates from the United States of America and is viewed as largely compliant with Ontario’s Employment Standards Act. Thereafter, it is sold to other provinces without there being adequate legal analysis as against each province’s Employment Standards legislation, with responsibility for this legal oversight being the responsibility of the employer and not the global payroll software provider. And to the extent that there are province-specific aspects in the payroll software, this would appear to be confined to government remittances. Meanwhile, specifics from the provincial Employment Standards legislation, such as Alberta’s Employment Standards Code, are not being met, both in reporting and payroll calculations. Instead, the reporting and payroll calculations are premised on mathematical formulas applicable to the province of Ontario and/or the particular state in the United States of America from where the payroll software emanated. However, the prospective class members (employees) were not working in Ontario or the United States of America when they were being paid in accordance with these non-applicable employment laws and statutes. Instead, the law requires that they should have been paid according to the Employment Standards legislation of the province within which they were working, as opposed to the laws and statutes of another province or country.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE IMPACTED EMPLOYEES

The impact as to employees and former employees can vary significantly, given how the various factors apply in each particular circumstance, in particular due to differences between companies and employee pay arrangements. Nevertheless, it can be quite significant, with numbers being as high as $20,000 or more per year for a single employee when calculations are redone under the applicable province’s Employment Standards legislation. So, whether you are talking about $2,000 per year or $20,000 per year for a single employee, after 10 years3 that could represent either $20,000 or $200,000 that is legally earned money in our professional estimation and represents one of the key facets of these class action lawsuits. There are additional aspects, as well as distinct elements, in each of the individual class action lawsuits; however, this underlying legal premise is central to our class action lawsuits.

So, if you were employed in the province of Alberta, should you not be paid according to Alberta’s Employment Standards Code? And if you were employed in another Canadian province, should you not be paid according to that province’s Employment Standards legislation? Why than is payroll reporting and employee pay calculations being done in conformity with the Ontario Employment Standards Act or employment laws from the United States of America? That is what we are attempting to resolve, as these class action lawsuits contend that in correcting employee pay arrangements to match the Employment Standards legislation of the province where the employee was employed will reveal considerable underpayments to those employees, with the money having been fully earned according to the Employment Standards legislation of the province of their employment.

You can contact Neufeld Legal P.C. by telephone at 403-400-4092 or email Chris@NeufeldLegal.com

OUR CURRENT CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS

We are presently pursuing a number of employee payroll class action lawsuits, which are at various stages of those legal proceedings, with a brief summary of the specific class action lawsuits being set out below together with additional information and resources that has been made available. These class action lawsuits emanate from the province of Alberta, although in specific cases they also pertain to employees in other parts of Canada that were subjected to employment underpayments and related demands that were comparable to those incurred by the defendant company's Alberta employees.

Sinopec Daylight Energy Ltd. and Sinopec Canada Energy Ltd.

A proposed class action has been brought against Sinopec Daylight Energy Ltd. and Sinopec Canada Energy Ltd. for their purported underpayment of former and current employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the Alberta Employment Standards Code, the British Columbia Employment Standards Act and case law precedent, given the companies' alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the employees' financial detriment. Click here for more information on the Sinopec Class Action.

KMC Mining Corporation

A proposed class action has been brought against KMC Mining Corporation for its purported underpayment of former and current employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the Alberta Employment Standards Code and case law precedent, as well as pension entitlements from the Pension Plan for the Employees of KMC Mining Corporation in contravention of the Canada Income Tax Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Alberta Employment Pension Plans Act, other related statutes and regulations, and applicable case law, given the company's alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the employees' financial detriment. Click here for more information on the KMC Mining Class Action.

Imperial Oil Limited, ExxonMobil Canada Ltd., Imperial Oil Resources Limited

A proposed class action has been brought against Imperial Oil Limited, ExxonMobil Canada Ltd., Imperial Oil Resources Limited and their US parent corporation ExxonMobil Corporation, for their purported underpayment of former and current Alberta employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the Alberta Employment Standards Code and case law precedent, as well as pension entitlements from their pension plans in contravention of the Canada Income Tax Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Alberta Employment Pension Plans Act, other related statutes and regulations, and applicable case law, given each of the Canadian companies' alleged over-reliance upon ExxonMobil Corporation's Argentina-based payroll staff, systems and software to the employees' financial detriment. Click here for more information on the Imperial Oil / ExxonMobil Class Action.

InnVest Hotels and Accor Hotels

A proposed class action has been brought against BlueSky Hotels and Resorts Inc., InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust, Accor Canada Holdings Inc., and InnVest Hotels GP XV Ltd., for their purported underpayment of former and current hotel employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the applicable provincial Employment Standards legislation and case law precedent, given the companies' alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the hotel employees' financial detriment, together with their failure to abide by the requirements of the applicable Employment Standards legislation with respect to their instituting temporary layoffs and transitioning to permanent layoffs of their former hotel employees. Click here for more information on the InnVest / Accor Hotels Class Action.

Marriott Hotels and Starwood Hotels

A proposed class action has been brought against Marriott International Inc., Marriott Hotels of Canada Inc. and Starwood Canada ULC, for their purported underpayment of former and current hotel employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the applicable provincial Employment Standards legislation and case law precedent, given the companies' alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the hotel employees' financial detriment. Click here for more information on the Marriott / Starwood Hotels Class Action.

Clark Builders Group

A proposed class action has been brought against Clark Builders Group and the partnership's constituent Alberta corporations, for their purported underpayment / non-payment of former and current employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment and severance pay as required by the Alberta Employment Standards Code and case law precedent, given the company's alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the employees' financial detriment, together with terminating employees due to the onset and disclosure of health conditions that required treatment, yet did not impact their job performance and the improper management and structuring of Clark Builders' Employee Share Ownership Program. Click here for more information on the Clark Builders Class Action.

Lafarge Canada

A proposed class action has been brought against Lafarge Canada Inc. for their purported underpayment of former and current employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the applicable provincial Employment Standards legislation and case law precedent, given the companies' alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the employees' financial detriment. Click here for more information on the Lafarge Class Action.

SMS Equipment

A proposed class action has been brought against SMS Equipment Inc. for its purported underpayment of former and current employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the Alberta Employment Standards Code and case law precedent, given the company's alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the employees' financial detriment, as well as terminating employees due to the onset and disclosure of health conditions that required treatment, yet did not impact their job performance. Click here for more information on the SMS Equipment Class Action.

Xtreme Oilfield Technology

A proposed class action has been brought against Xtreme Oilfield Technology Ltd. for its purported underpayment / non-payment of former and current employees with respect to overtime pay, vacation pay, general holiday pay, general holiday pay when working, vacation pay on termination of employment, termination pay in lieu of notice and severance pay as required by the Alberta Employment Standards Code and case law precedent, given the company's alleged over-reliance upon foreign payroll systems and software to the employees' financial detriment. Click here for more information on the Xtreme Oilfield Class Action.

Contact Neufeld Legal P.C. by telephone at 403-400-4092 or email Chris@NeufeldLegal.com

IMPORTANT NOTE: This website is designed for general informational purposes. The site is not designed to answer specific questions about your individual situation or entitlement. Do not rely upon the information provided on this website as legal advice in respect of your individual situation nor use it as substitute for individual legal advice. If you want specific legal advice, you need to engage a lawyer under established legal engagement procedures that have been specifically agreed to by that lawyer.

The information collected about potential class members will assist counsel in prosecuting the class action and assessing what damages were suffered by the class as a whole, as well as potentially identifying other legal aspects / claims that were not previously considered. Providing the information requested does not make you the client of Neufeld Legal PC. The court will ultimately decide who will be included as a class member.