In the wake of yesterday’s OrilliaMatters story about an Orillia teenager who was furious about not being paid for training shifts at the Orillia Pizza Nova, the pizzeria has changed their policies and apologized.
On Thursday, Elliot Chow said not being paid for training "seems like ... kind of a scam."
Orillia Pizza Nova franchise owner David Struga says he was unaware of the labour laws that stipulate an employee must be paid for employer-mandated training.
“We have Elliot’s cheque for the minimum of six hours that he was asked to come into work. We have contacted Elliot and apologized, it was an honest mistake,” Struga said.
“We are more than happy to comply with the rules. This in no way, shape, or form was about money or slave labour as it’s being depicted, it has nothing to do with that whatsoever."
Elliot, Thank you for letting us know about your situation and we sincerely apologize on behalf of this location’s decision to deal with the matter in this way as it is NOT Pizza Nova’s common practice and we have rectified the situation.
— Pizza Nova (@PizzaNova) May 14, 2021
Manager Esmeralda Proko also issued an apology.
“I would never hire people just to use them. I actually treat them like my children,” Proko says.
“We are so sorry that this has happened. It will never happen again."
Proko adds that her two current employees will also be compensated for the unpaid training shifts they worked before being officially hired.
Both the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development’s Employment Standards and Health & Safety programs have confirmed that nothing had been officially reported to the agency regarding this matter as of this afternoon.
Ministry officials could not say if an investigation will take place and what repercussions the Orillia Pizza Nova location may face.
On Friday morning, Pizza Nova’s corporate headquarters Tweeted an apology to Chow via the OrilliaMatters post. Chow, who doesn’t have a Twitter account, was unaware of the Tweet until Friday afternoon.
Chow says he accepts the apology, as long as the unpaid training doesn’t happen again.
“What happened to me, there is no way that is common practice across all other Pizza Novas ... they are basic labour laws,” he said.
Chow hopes his story shines a light on businesses taking advantage of employees.
“I don’t want people working at places like that, especially if that’s how they are going to treat them,” he said.
In an emailed response, ministry officials explained the rules around employee training:
The Employment Standards Act (ESA) sets out minimum rights for most employees in Ontario workplaces. Under the ESA, in general, employees are required to be paid for all hours worked. Time that an employee spends in training that is required by the employer or by law, as a condition of employment or continued employment, is considered working time and therefore must be paid. For more information related to hours of work and what is considered to be working time please visit the ministry’s website at Ontario.ca/hoursofwork.
The ministry suggested the following if an employee feels they were not treated fairly:
If an employee thinks their employer has not followed the ESA, they can file a claim with MLTSD using the claim form on the ministry’s website. Please note that there are time limits for filing. Only an employment standards officer can determine, either during an inspection or an investigation, what entitlements an employee may have.
