Hourly rates below the minimum wage, non-compliance with the rules surrounding leave and hours worked, the CNESST is demanding more than $370,000 additional from Finex, a fiber cement manufacturer in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, on behalf of three temporary foreign workers . The employer denies the allegations outright and the cases will go to court.
These claims are in addition to those of $33,000 from another worker, including The Press reported last summer. They all concern hourly rates of $10, well below the minimum wage, and non-compliance with the rules surrounding leave, vacations and hours worked.
These four workers had a closed work permit, linked to the Finex company. In mid-August, The Press reported that they had denounced what they described as “abusive treatment”.
Two of them, Juan Barahona Madrid, 29, and his brother Carlos, 39, are from Honduras. The other two, David Davalos, 35, and Daniel Morales, 36, come from Mexico.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The four workers are Daniel Morales, Juan Barahona Madrid, David Davalos and Carlos Barahona Madrid.
They say they had to work up to 80 hours a week, seven days a week, with no days off, and were paid around $10 an hour, well below what they had been paid. promised. According to them, the employer had put in place a scheme which consisted of paying the agreed salary, before demanding reimbursement of part of the sum in cash.
From $33,000 to $183,000
In its four notices of complaint, the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) accepts their version, indicating that the hours worked largely exceeded the schedules provided by Finex, and claims on behalf workers, after investigating their cases, sums of $33,000 to $183,000, for a total of $404,450.
These amounts include hours worked, overtime, statutory holidays, vacations and recruitment-related costs. The first decision was made on June 21. The other three followed on September 5.
However, it is important to mention that a complaint from the CNESST does not constitute a binding decision against the employer.
The owner disputes
The company’s owner, Helios Munoz, 67, “strongly denies these allegations” and disputes the claims.
It is the Court of Quebec (for claims of less than $70,000) or the Superior Court (for claims of more than $70,000) which will ultimately determine whether compensation must be paid, and its amount, we explained Finex’s lawyer, Mr.e Jean-François Lépine.
“It’s completely ridiculous,” reacted the owner, Mr. Munoz. For Juan Barahona Madrid, I paid something like $45,000 for the year 2022. Now, the CNESST is asking me for $170,000 for him alone. It doesn’t hold up! He worked with us for less than two years. »
The CNESST visited Finex on February 22, 2023, he specifies. “All the documents they asked me for, the pay slips, the punches, everything, everything, everything they asked me, I showed them and they left with it for four months. Despite this, the only communication I had with them was on February 22, 2023. They did not listen to my version. »
The company employs 21 people, including five temporary foreign workers.
What does the employer risk?
In addition to the CNESST, Immigration Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have opened investigations.
If Mr. Munoz is deemed non-compliant, which means that he has not respected his responsibilities towards his workers, he is exposed to financial sanctions from Immigration Canada. The amount of penalties is based on the size of the business and the type of violation. For a company with fewer than 100 employees, like Finex, penalties range from $500 to $15,000.
Employers thus sanctioned may also be prohibited from hiring new foreign workers for a specific period or forever.
New jobs
For their part, the plaintiffs found a new employer.
They obtained, the 1er August, an open work permit for vulnerable workers, granted by the federal government to migrant workers who are victims of violence or who risk being victims of violence in the context of their employment in Canada.
David Davalos, Juan Barahona Madrid and his brother Carlos work for Béton Brunet, in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. Daniel Morales found a job in a restaurant.
“I’m super happy,” says Juan. Béton Brunet treats us well. We usually work 42, 43 hours a week and we can spend the weekend with our families. With this new job, we also have time to learn French, which we didn’t have with Finex.” “Telling the truth changed my life. »
The Finex company should not be confused with an exterior covering installer in the Lanaudière region who bears the same name.
Learn more
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- 35,215
- Number of temporary foreign workers in Quebec as of December 31, 2022
Source: Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration of Quebec