Employer from Hell: Unpaid Workers, CRA Audit, Lawsuits

My life took a dark turn when I was involved with doing business with the Employer from Hell. I was owed a large sum of money for unpaid work, and lost my primary source of income as result. I was attacked multiple times over the last several months, either directly, or via Vexatious Litigation (Court/Legal System Abuse) or third party tactics. As a result, I had to file two lawsuits in July 2019 as a self-represented litigant. The Trial is not until Spring 2020. This defendant had spent $25,000 approx. by the time of the Pre-Trial Conference, and likely closer to $30,000 to this day.

Unpaid Workers

This Employer from Hell does not pay workers or vendors as they please, and attacks them as they see fit.

Tax Issues

Workers are paid as, or labelled as contractors to avoid paying into their CPP or EI. They are usually hired at such $x wage and then on or after payday, if they like them at the time, they’ll just shoot them an e-transfer or cheque/draft and be done with it. Sometimes, this happens to those who are signed on as employees, and they don’t realize that on the books they’re actually not being treated as such, and they won’t know until it’s too late.

Most workers also are not aware of the law surrounding Employee or Contractor issues, especially the common law. Many tests have been established in tax law and employment law to resolve such issues brought to the Courts, such as the Control Test, Ownership of Tools, Chance of Profit/Loss, and Integration of the Worker’s Work into the Payer’s Business. One of the most famous is the case in Federal Court of Appeal in Wiebe Door Services Ltd. v. Canada (Minister of National Revenue). Since then, other factors have surfaced in the Courts and CRA ruling issues, such as intent. Unfortunately, most workers do not stand up for themselves, and the employers get away with what they do.

This Employer from Hell collects GST from customers, but then spend it on itself, or on legal fees to fund its legal battles. Also, payroll deductions often are not remitted to CRA when they should.

Fraud

After they have been signed, sometimes they take workers’ contracts and then modify the terms, like their pay. In other cases, they’ll take their credit card or bank expenses and then try to say you spent the money themselves, then threaten to or actually try to sue you over it. In other cases, they tried telling the bank or credit card company that.

Disregard for Government/Court Orders

For example, CRA or the court for another non-tax matter will order them to garnish somebody’s wages, or to pay debt they owe. Sometimes they’ll then pay the worker cash or his or her friend or spouse’s bank account;

Harassment, Assault

The guy running the show has been previously arrested for assaulting an employee and charged. Women and men working there had been victims of harassment, both sexual or not.

Interference with Economic Affairs

This Employer from Hell Interferes with former employees’ businesses and searches for alternate employment, like bad-mouthing them to other employers or employees who they know, or expect them to have  sought work with.

Legal System Abuse

Both the company and guy running the show have been sued multiple times, or charged. But they use their lawyers to try to throw out each case, or drag it out as long as possible, like using loopholes to try to get around court rules, making excuses to delay court dates, disregarding court rules such as exchanging evidence before attempting to use it in court, or falsifying legal documents.

Bribery

People are offered money to spy on and record employees, or to fool one to do something illegal or say certain things, so then the employer can use it against them, especially in a legal dispute. For example, a former employee was given $5,000 to produce a witness statement with unverifiable facts that likely were false.

Safety Infractions

Harassment aside, workers are yelled and hollered at, and/or threatened termination or actually terminated for merely expressing a genuine concern. Substance abuse issues are rampart in many of the regulars, usually crack or crushing pills. The employer calls police accusing them of theft or disturbance, and tries to have them arrested.

False Promises

Giving false promises. To sucker new people to work for them, they’re promised lots of work and money and the moon and sky. Then when the truth comes out, they know otherwise.

Investigation by Government Parties

This Employer from Hell has been investigated by, or audited by OHS, CRA, Employment Standards, and Service Canada. But they constantly lie through their teeth and manipulate the investigators into siding with the employer. In the safety infractions example, they’ll make up a story or written documents last minute right before the auditor shows up, or making false legal documents. Most former employees just give up because of each process taking so long to produce no results, so the employer gets away with what they are doing.

The only one who seems to be taking the problems remotely seriously at this point is CRA. They have been refusing to give them information they requested.