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The Ottawa Senators are among the businesses caught in a provincial blitz aimed at catching employers who exploit workers with precarious jobs.
The blitz was a tragic success: Inspectors went to 304 businesses across Ontario over last summer and found violations in 232 of them. About three per violator, on average. Withheld holiday and vacation pay and unpaid overtime were the biggies.
Inspectors launch blitzes where they expect to find problems, but even so, the number was “disappointingly high,” Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said in an interview Thursday.
Capital Sports Properties Inc., the part of the Senators organization that runs the Canadian Tire Centre, was cited for requiring or permitting workers to stay on the job more than the maximum number of permitted hours, which is usually 48 in a week.
Spokesman Chris Moore said it was because the Sens made the playoffs.
“Without being able to pre-plan for when the games would occur, the addition of what was ultimately three home playoff dates caused some of our building’s operational staff to work overtime hours, for which they were appropriately compensated,” Moore said by email. The team just didn’t get permission from the labour ministry for it. Usually that means formally reminding workers of their rights in unusual circumstances.
It’s a minor violation, though by a company that’s big enough to know better.
Most of the orders are against gyms, cleaning services, private security companies and indoor playgrounds, lots of which employ younger workers on irregular schedules. A few are against lawyers and accountants, who might employ part-time office help.
“Sometimes you’ll see people who run small businesses and just don’t know what the law is and what their obligations are,” Flynn said. “They’re usually shocked when they find out they’re doing something wrong and fix a problem right away.”
One Ottawa business, Elgin Fitness, was cited for not paying staff for public holidays, for failing to keep proper records, and not making vacation pay on time. A manager there, reached by phone, said they’d immediately made things right when the inspector ordered them to.
Others, like the Senators, do know their obligations but get sloppy: Chuck E. Cheese got six citations. An international conglomerate that runs a Legoland north of Toronto got four.
Orders from the ministry make them shape up, but sometimes they need regular checkups to make sure they don’t backslide, Flynn said.
And then there are the employers whose businesses depend on ripping off their workers. “Some people, sadly, I’m convinced that it’s part of their business plan to not treat people the way they should,” Flynn said. “Those are the ones that tend to go to prosecutions.”
The people who need help most are afraid to ask for it. Often their hours are at owners’ or managers’ whim, so they can find themselves unemployed without even being fired. The texts just stop coming.
Leaning on shady businesses can just push them deeper into the shade.
Consider there’s already been a serious attempt at starting an Uber-for-housecleaning business, called Homejoy. It fell apart not because the concept wasn’t popular, but for ordinary dull reasons common to startups that try to grow too fast. Someone will figure it out. And then most of the exploitive cleaning companies will vaporize, but life won’t get better for exploited cleaners. If anything, their work will get even more precarious.
It’s a problem, the minister agreed. “The sharing economy is as much about technology as it is about people avoiding regulation,” he said. “At the end of the day you want to have something left to share.”
Flynn figures the key to that is to focus on customers. With ride-sharing services, it’s whether drivers are properly insured. The same with, say, roofing contractors who save money by compromising safety — homeowners can end up paying if an underinsured worker gets hurt. He’s intrigued by a Swedish policy that gives tax credits for hiring housekeeping help: it’s aimed at helping women work outside the home, but the part that gets Flynn’s attention is that to claim it, you have to have receipts.
This is a delicate business, but addressing demand rather than supply does seem as though it’d be more productive. Cities like Ottawa that are struggling with companies like Uber should take note.
dreevely@postmedia.com
twitter.com/davidreevely
查看原文...
The blitz was a tragic success: Inspectors went to 304 businesses across Ontario over last summer and found violations in 232 of them. About three per violator, on average. Withheld holiday and vacation pay and unpaid overtime were the biggies.
Inspectors launch blitzes where they expect to find problems, but even so, the number was “disappointingly high,” Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said in an interview Thursday.
Capital Sports Properties Inc., the part of the Senators organization that runs the Canadian Tire Centre, was cited for requiring or permitting workers to stay on the job more than the maximum number of permitted hours, which is usually 48 in a week.
Spokesman Chris Moore said it was because the Sens made the playoffs.
“Without being able to pre-plan for when the games would occur, the addition of what was ultimately three home playoff dates caused some of our building’s operational staff to work overtime hours, for which they were appropriately compensated,” Moore said by email. The team just didn’t get permission from the labour ministry for it. Usually that means formally reminding workers of their rights in unusual circumstances.
It’s a minor violation, though by a company that’s big enough to know better.
Most of the orders are against gyms, cleaning services, private security companies and indoor playgrounds, lots of which employ younger workers on irregular schedules. A few are against lawyers and accountants, who might employ part-time office help.
“Sometimes you’ll see people who run small businesses and just don’t know what the law is and what their obligations are,” Flynn said. “They’re usually shocked when they find out they’re doing something wrong and fix a problem right away.”
One Ottawa business, Elgin Fitness, was cited for not paying staff for public holidays, for failing to keep proper records, and not making vacation pay on time. A manager there, reached by phone, said they’d immediately made things right when the inspector ordered them to.
Others, like the Senators, do know their obligations but get sloppy: Chuck E. Cheese got six citations. An international conglomerate that runs a Legoland north of Toronto got four.
Orders from the ministry make them shape up, but sometimes they need regular checkups to make sure they don’t backslide, Flynn said.
And then there are the employers whose businesses depend on ripping off their workers. “Some people, sadly, I’m convinced that it’s part of their business plan to not treat people the way they should,” Flynn said. “Those are the ones that tend to go to prosecutions.”
The people who need help most are afraid to ask for it. Often their hours are at owners’ or managers’ whim, so they can find themselves unemployed without even being fired. The texts just stop coming.
Leaning on shady businesses can just push them deeper into the shade.
Consider there’s already been a serious attempt at starting an Uber-for-housecleaning business, called Homejoy. It fell apart not because the concept wasn’t popular, but for ordinary dull reasons common to startups that try to grow too fast. Someone will figure it out. And then most of the exploitive cleaning companies will vaporize, but life won’t get better for exploited cleaners. If anything, their work will get even more precarious.
It’s a problem, the minister agreed. “The sharing economy is as much about technology as it is about people avoiding regulation,” he said. “At the end of the day you want to have something left to share.”
Flynn figures the key to that is to focus on customers. With ride-sharing services, it’s whether drivers are properly insured. The same with, say, roofing contractors who save money by compromising safety — homeowners can end up paying if an underinsured worker gets hurt. He’s intrigued by a Swedish policy that gives tax credits for hiring housekeeping help: it’s aimed at helping women work outside the home, but the part that gets Flynn’s attention is that to claim it, you have to have receipts.
This is a delicate business, but addressing demand rather than supply does seem as though it’d be more productive. Cities like Ottawa that are struggling with companies like Uber should take note.
dreevely@postmedia.com
twitter.com/davidreevely
查看原文...
