Saskatoon waitress says former employer owes her money

“He was actually really good about texting back and forth if something was wrong. When I received my second last paycheque, it bounced in my account and I texted him to let him know that. All he responded with was ‘OK.’”

A couple of weeks went by and Steinke said she still hadn’t been paid.

“I started texting him, saying that I had bills to pay and that if he didn’t contact me, my next step would be to go to the labour board. I gave him the option of getting back to me or that would be the action that I took,” she said, adding Miller never got back to her.

Steinke said she called the labour board to get complaint forms and then texted Miller to let him know. She offered to not send the forms in if Miller would pay her.

She later received a text message back from Miller, which she believes to be a message intended for someone else.

“He told me that he would not be paying me because I went to the labour board,” said Steinke.

“I think it was super inappropriate that he wasn’t texting me back or reading my texts and then he accidentally texted me back, so I know he was ignoring me for the three months,” she said. She called the labour board about the conversation and sent them a screenshot of it.

“I worked for my money so I think I deserve it,” she said.

Labour standards investigating matter

According to labour standards, the division is investigating several complaints against Miller.

“We are in the midst of the investigation. We are not in a position, as a result, to release any details,” said Daniel Parrot, director of legal and education services the labour standards division of the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety.

Unable to speak about the specifics of the case, Parrot said if an employee cannot work out a problem with their employer, the employee can come to labour standards. A file is assigned to an officer for investigation.

Depending on the issue, the office might conduct an audit, look at the employer’s payroll records and take witness statements.

With sufficient evidence, the officer can decide whether there are wages owed to the employee. At that point, the officer will demand the employer pay the employee.

If the employer disputes the officer’s conclusions and can’t be convinced otherwise, the officer will have the director of labour standards issue a wage assessment. The employer will be given a certain number of days to appeal the assessment or it will be sent to the Court of Queen’s Bench. If an appeal is made, the decision is sent to an adjudicator.

“If the wage assessment is upheld, then there’s another period for an appeal to the Court of Queen’s Bench,” said Parrot. If the matter is settled and the employer still doesn’t pay, the case is given to the collections unit.

“If we think the employer has been particularly malicious or persistent with their non-compliance, if their non-compliance is willful or they have been deliberately destructive, we could lay a charge or charges. Then the matter goes to provincial court,” he said.

“(The employer) might say, ‘Well, I have no money.’ That’s the type of thing we investigate. We want to see well, do you have a house? Do you own land? Do you have a car? Do you have a bank account? Do you have accounts receivables? We take a really close look.”

Money troubles at Avocado, say former employees

Two former Avocado waitresses said they too had money troubles with the restaurant.

After working for a couple of months, Teigan Fehr quit her job at Avocado in December 2011.

“I was expecting my paycheque to be mailed out to me. It never was,” she said.

In the middle of January, she went to Avocado to get her paycheque. She said Miller told her that he got the impression she wasn’t coming back for it so he gave Fehr’s money to the manager.

Fehr went to the bank and got her bank statement printed out and brought it to Miller.

“I was like, ‘Look, nothing has been cashed. Just cancel that cheque and write me a new one because I never got it.’” She said Miller refused.

Fehr said after that meeting, she would text Miller and tell him specific times she would be stopping at Avocado, asking he have her cheque ready.

“I was never rude. I was always very nice about it because I didn’t want anything to happen,” she said.

Fehr said she was also owed debit tip money and she had been tracking her last two weeks before she quit. She said the restaurant owed her $300.

Frustrated, Fehr called the labour board.

“I got forms to get my cheque and my debit tips. I texted him and I said, ‘I got forms from the labour board. If you don’t want me to send these in, could you please give me my cheque?’” she said.

“Eventually I did get it but I just had to keep threatening that I was going to go to the labour board,” she said, adding the paycheque came at the end of January.

“That would have been two to three weeks of me being on that every single day,” said Fehr.

Kelsey O’Byrne said she was in a similar situation.

A teacher, O’Byrne had time off this spring to go to overseas with students. She said while she was gone, communication seized between her and Miller about her schedule when she returned.

She said she was still owed a paycheque when she got back to Canada, but when she drove to Avocado to pick it up, the building was closed.

“I didn’t know anything about that. I got really worried so I started sending out emails. It took a long time but I did randomly eventually receive my paycheque in the mail,” she said. She used the money to pay off bills but then the cheque bounced.

“I was really frustrated. I felt really helpless because I had just moved to Saskatoon and didn’t know any better,” she said. O’Byrne went to Avocado nearly every day for a week until she was paid cash.

Miller has not returned any calls or messages.

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by paNOW

Saskatoon waitress says former employer owes her money

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