An Indian worker claimed that he had to pay CAD 25,000 to get a job at a truck repair company in Richmond, British Columbia, and his wages were deducted during his employment period. Recently, the Employment Standards Arbitration Board of British Columbia ruled that the company, A J Boyal Truck Repair Ltd., must compensate the worker a total of CAD 115,574.69.

This compensation includes wages, holiday wages, annual leave wages, interest, etc., owed to mechanic Harminder Singh (H) by A J Boyal Truck Repair Ltd.

In this 70-page ruling document, Shannon Corregan, representative of the Employment Standards Branch, detailed the process of how Singh arrived in Canada on a visitor visa in March 2018 and decided to stay.

Singh's cousin introduced him to Sarvpreet Boyal, the sole proprietor of A J Boyal Truck Repair Ltd., which happened to have an opening for a mechanic and had just obtained a "Labor Market Impact Assessment" (LMIA), allowing them to hire four temporary foreign truck mechanics.

Singh signed an employment contract with Boyal and briefly returned to India for a month. After returning to Canada, he received a work permit at the border and started working in July 2018, leaving in October 2019.

Singh accused that he was forced to pay Boyal CAD 25,000 for this job. Of this amount, CAD 10,000 was paid in cash, and the remaining CAD 15,000 was paid through a check from Singh's cousin to one of Boyal's friends.

According to the Employment Standards Act, it is prohibited for anyone to directly or indirectly charge job seekers for employment fees.

Employer testimony deemed untrustworthy

In the ruling, Corregan pointed out that the testimony of employer Boyal and his lawyer Pir Indar Paul Singh Sahota was untrustworthy, describing it as "hindering the investigation," "unprofessional," and "contradictory."

She wrote: "Boyal's testimony on key issues is contradictory, and he changes his story when he realizes it will lead to negative consequences. Some of his statements are simply unbelievable and even contradict documents submitted by the company itself. I find his testimony untrustworthy, and where it conflicts with Mr. Singh's testimony, I am more inclined to believe Singh."

The evidence regarding the length of Singh's employment was mutually accused of falsifying records. Singh's side brought in a document authentication expert, and the court ultimately found problems with the records submitted by the employer.

The employer claimed that employees had to sign a "sign-in book" every day to record their hours. However, the expert found that the signature purportedly belonging to Singh was not written by him, and it seemed that all the contents of the sign-in book were written by the same person.

CBC News did not receive a response from Boyal before the article deadline.

The details of the compensation are as follows:

- Wages: $24,032.13

- Overtime Pay: $44,256.24

- Statutory Holiday Pay: $2,505.76

- Annual Leave Pay: $4,585.38

- Service Compensation: $2,300.42

- Repayment of Employment Fees: $15,000 (cash portion not compensated due to exceeding the recovery period)

- Interest: $22,894.76

In addition, A J Boyal Truck Repair was fined CAD 4,000 in administrative penalties for violating eight provisions of the Employment Standards Act.

Singh initially filed a complaint with the Employment Standards Arbitration Tribunal in 2023, where he was awarded CAD 3,149.39 in wage compensation and a fine of CAD 2,000. However, he successfully appealed, and the case was reopened for investigation in 2024, resulting in his victory.

Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493029576588493324/

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