The former Villa Mon Domaine seniors’ residence — which had been the subject of an investigation by Duty in 2022 — finally pleaded guilty this week to violations of labor standards committed against the temporary workers it employed.
On Monday, Judge Sylvie Marcotte of the Court of Quebec ordered the company to pay $2,700 in fines for three offenses committed between 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) issued four violations concerning the residence for the elderly located in Lévis. She accused him of not having recorded the hours worked by certain employees in his register, of having made illegal deductions from wages and of not having given certain pay slips to the workers.
The offenses committed took place over a period of several months between summer 2020 and summer 2021.
The owners of the residence, Éric Simard and Natacha Gauthier, subsequently contested the infraction reports and the dispute between them and the CNESST ended up before the courts.
However, after months of postponements and discussions between lawyers, they finally pleaded guilty to three of the charges, which led to their conviction this week.
In March 2022, a Le Devoir investigation revealed that many temporary workers employed by Villa Mon Domaine had filed complaints with both levels of government because they felt they were victims of abuse. One of these people even claimed to have worked for months as a beneficiary attendant without being paid.
In reaction to these revelations, the Minister of Labor Jean Boulet asked the CNESST to re-study the file. The organization submitted the infraction reports in June 2022.
The residence located in Lévis was sold in January 2023 and now has a new name.
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