Court Certifies $100M Class Action Against Canada Cartage for Unpaid Overtime
TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2015 /CNW/ - Lawyers from the law firm Lax O'Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP have announced the decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, released January 30, 2015, certifying a national class action lawsuit against Canada Cartage Diversified GP Inc., Direct General Partner Corporation, and Canada Cartage System, Limited (collectively "Canada Cartage") regarding unpaid overtime.
Canada Cartage, with headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, engages in the business of dedicated trucking, warehousing, distribution, and logistics services across Canada. Direct Distribution Centres is the warehousing division of Canada Cartage, with locations across Canada.
The certification decision (available at http://canlii.ca/t/gg4ff) is a judicial determination that this case is an appropriate case to proceed as a class action. The case covers a "class" of approximately 7,800 current and former Canada Cartage employees who worked at the company since March 1, 2006 who were entitled to receive overtime compensation pursuant to the Canada Labour Code and its regulations. The court also found that the plaintiff, Marc-Oliver Baroch, is an appropriate representative plaintiff for the class. Mr. Baroch worked at a Canada Cartage location in Mississauga, Ontario for approximately seven years and left the company in 2013.
The Amended Statement of Claim alleges that Canada Cartage had a policy or practice of avoiding or disregarding its overtime obligations to class members. According to the lawsuit, which was commenced in November 2013, this policy or practice manifested itself in a number of ways. For example, the Claim alleges that after Human Resources and Skills Development Canada determined that Canada Cartage was not complying with its overtime obligations, Canada Cartage deliberately misled HRSDC about the remedial steps it would undertake to correct its non-compliance. For some class members, it is alleged that Canada Cartage unilaterally reduced their rates of pay and "reverse engineered" their compensation to make it appear that they were being paid overtime when in fact their weekly earnings remained unchanged.
"The Court's decision certifying this case as a class action is a very positive development," said Eric R. Hoaken, a partner at Lax O'Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP. "It allows us to move forward to trial and obtain justice on behalf of the class of hard-working men and women who we allege were deprived of the overtime pay to which they are entitled. We are gratified that the Court has cleared the way for the case to be determined on its merits."
Additional information about this case is available at www.canadacartageclassaction.com.
SOURCE Lax O'Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP
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