A Prince George-based cab company has to pay more than $26,000 in fines and lost wages for underpaying its employees.
Emerald Taxi Ltd., a cab company that’s been operating in Prince George since 1983, was found to have contravened both the Employment Standards Act and the Employment Standards Regulation in a recent decision by B.C.'s Ministry of Labour.
Percy Lloyd Pedersen was one of the former employees who brought the allegations against the company to the Employment Standard Branch, which then launched an investigation into the company.
He alleged Emerald Taxi failed to pay minimum wage, overtime wages, vacation pay, statutory holiday pay and made unauthorized deductions from wages.
After the investigation, the delegate of the director of Employment Standards, determined Emerald Taxi had to pay $26,668 in unpaid wages and fines in regards to underpaying six employees, including Pedersen, in an Aug. 28 decision.
“I started driving with Emerald Taxi three-and-a-half-years-ago just for something to do because I’m retired,” said Pedersen in an interview with PrinceGeorgeMatters.
“I kept driving because it was fun. I so enjoyed driving taxis.”
Pedersen says he eventually sent a complaint to the Ministry of Labour because he was tired of being paid under minimum wage.
The Employment Standards Branch also received a complaint from another employee and an unnamed third party, then requested information regarding all employees at the company.
“The big thing was, Emerald says, we were contractors. I’m saying we are not contractors. That was their fight: ‘We can get away with this because you’re a contractor.’”
Shortly after submitting his complaints to the branch, Pedersen was terminated by Emerald.
According to information provided by Emerald in the decision, Pedersen was let go for underperformance.
Balraj Bhangoo, Jaswant Singh Chanal, Rajendar Singh Parmar and Jagtar Singh Thiara are listed as the company’s directors.
According to information provided by Bhangoo in the decision, Emerald has several of its own employees, however, the company also has several owner/operators who own their own cabs and have their own drivers.
Emerald Taxi argued the individuals who submitted complaints, including Pedersen, were not its employees, but rather employees of the owner/operators of the cabs they drove for.
However, because of the company’s control over a driver’s ability to earn wages, the delegate determined the complainants were indeed employees of Emerald and not contractors.
“As Emerald controlled the taxi license, dispatch system, disciplinary process, and ultimately the ability of each driver to earn wages, I find that Emerald is the complainants’ employer,” wrote the delegate.
Pedersen submitted his trip sheets to the branch indicating his start and end times, the various fares accepted, and cab earnings.
“Based on the information provided by Mr. Parmar, namely the trip sheets, it does not appear that Mr. Pedersen was paid at least minimum wage, calculated on a monthly basis, for all hours of work,” wrote the delegate.
“I find that Mr. Pedersen earned $33,062.66 in regular wages during the recovery period and was paid $19,579.98 during that time. Accordingly, I find that Mr. Pedersen is owed a further $13,482.78.”
O’Grady also found Pedersen was owed $1,631.23 in statutory holiday pay, $24.24 in overtime wages and $3,456.51 in vacation pay, totalling $18,594.76.
“The bottom line is they’ve ruled in my favour,” says Pedersen.
“It’s to show people that if you are going to run a business, you have to run it properly.”
The investigation also fined Emerald a total of $5,000 for 10 violations of the Employment Standards Act for issues involving Pedersen and the six other employees named in the decision.
These included failing to pay employees all wages earned within a pay period, failing to pay all outstanding wages within 48 hours of terminating an employee, not giving employees wage statements, not paying overtime pay, statutory holiday pay or vacation pay.
PrinceGeorgeMatters has reached out to Emerald Taxi Ltd. for comment, but have yet to respond to our request.
