Employee Payroll Class Action Lawsuits
The legal pursuit of employee earnings that are due pursuant to the correct employment standards legislation.
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.
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.