The Ontario Ministry of Labor published a press release at the end of May alerting the public that a Toronto businessman and his private school received a fine of $ 410,000 for not complying with orders to pay wages.
At that time, those fines were already two weeks due to the courts.
Anchuan Jiang and his Ontario International College company were convicted under the Law of Employment Standards (ESA) in March for not paying almost $ 185,000 in salaries owed to 14 employees as ordered. In addition to the fines, there was also a 25 percent victim surcharge. They were supposed to be paid in the Toronto Provincial Crimes Court before May 12.
But they were not.
As of last week, Jiang had not paid a penny of the $ 580,730 in fines and surcharges, according to the Toronto Court Services Division.
It is a family story: Jiang has been convicted before. Now, your case has employment lawyers who ask for new application tools to ensure that workers receive payments and new employees are not victims.
Previous company, same problem
Four years ago, Jiang and his previous company, Norstar Times, received a fine of $ 100,000 for not paying more than $ 320,000 in salaries as ordered. Those previous fines, which total $ 141,610 with the surcharge for the victim, have not yet been paid.
CBC Toronto first reported on salary theft claims that involved Jiang seven years ago when former employees contacted stories of waiting years to pay. Most of them were international students who had recently graduated or other newcomers working on their first job in Canada.
Despite the application efforts of the province since then, a CBC investigation discovered that Jiang still owes up to $ 952,000 in salaries and more than $ 732,000 in expired and not paid fines.
Jiang did not respond to requests for comments for this story.
New compliance tools are needed
Employment lawyers say that the case of Jiang highlights the limitations of the Ontario application system for wage theft and why new tools are needed to prevent employers from continuing to manage a business, and potentially victimize more workers, if they have not paid salaries and pending fines.
“It is very revealing that this employer has previous convictions and could start a new business and do the same again,” said Bedard, lawyer for the staff of the workers’ shares center, who helps low -income workers to solve problems in the workplace.
“There must be consequences for employers who do not pay, not only ratt more fines besides the money owed.”
The Ontario Ministry of Finance handles orders collections to pay salaries on behalf of the Ministry of Labor if they are not paid within 30 days. CBC Toronto asked the Ministry of Finance how much money and its companies still owe in unpaid wages.
In a statement sent by email, spokesman Scott Blodgett said the ministry cannot discuss specific cases or “say anything that may breach the confidential information of taxpayers.”
Public records, however, offer information on the recovery efforts of the Ministry.
The writings total up to $ 952,000 in debt
There are 13 active execution writings against Jiang, and one against Ontario International College, registered by the Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Ministry of Labor between 2018 and 2024. All together there are more than $ 952,000 in debt.
The writings can be used to enforce debts causing a sheriff to take over and sell the debtor’s assets to pay what they should. While it does not seem that the Ministry of Finance has tried to seize and sell Toronto’s house totally determined by Jiang, has placed a lien of more than $ 300,000 in the house, according to Ontario Lien Records.
Last year, Bedard says that the Workers Action Center helped recover $ 250,000 in unpaid wages for workers in the Metropolitan Area of Toronto, but that is “only a fall in the cube” of the salary robbery claims brought to the organization.
“If the case ends up going to the Ministry of Finance, we know that it becomes very unlikely they get their money, so we try to prepare workers for that,” he said.
In his statement, the Ministry of Finance said that he does everything possible to recover the amounts owed to the workers under ESA.
$ 60 million in unpaid wages in Ontario
Despite these efforts, the records of the internal government obtained by CBC through a request for freedom of information last year show that of the almost $ 80 million in unpaid wages owed to the workers of Ontario between the fiscal year 2017-2018 and July 2024, almost $ 60 million remained unpaid last summer.
“That is a large number,” said Joanna Mullen, employment lawyer for the legal services of the community of the Waterloo region. “Certainly shows that efforts to date, the tools that are available to the government are insufficient.”
Mullen made presentations on the changes in the application of the ESA in the Ontario Legislature the past fall. She told the Permanent Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs that supported the proposed amendments to increase fines in bill 190, but argued that the change would not make a difference for some employers.
“What we need to be doing is changing the law to allow the ministry to between and say ‘stop, you already ended. You can no longer have employees. You cannot operate a business in the way you have been,” said Mullen, told the committee.
Solar employer’s commercial licenses
Practically, the Employment Lawyer says that an employer’s commercial license could be made by applying and prohibiting them from requesting a new one, or removing other licenses such as a liquor or driver’s license.
According to Bedard, there is a similar application mechanism for occupational health and safety.
“If you are an employer who repeatedly causes serious and potentially mortal injuries in your work sites, at some point a business can no longer operate,” he said.
“Why hasn’t it happened to this individual? It is not something that the Ministry of Labor is currently being able to do, but it seems a consequence that would make sense for such heinous cases.”
The 190 bill approved without any of the suggested amendments of Mullen at the end of October.
CBC Toronto asked the Ministry of Labor if it plans to implement new application tools as a license regime for employers or the ability to strip non -compliant employers of other licenses they need to operate their business.
The Ministry of Labor did not provide an answer before the deadline for this story.
