Did you know that the Alberta Government has a Registry of employers with unpaid judgments on their website?
Businesses on this registry are those who have Employment Standards judgments registered against them. The bulk of the businesses with judgements violated employment standards related to worker pay.
I decided to go through the registry to see what the judgements were for 2022.
The registry contains 64 employers who received judgements in 2022. There were a total of 87 judgements, so there were a few employers who had multiple judgements registered against them.
The registry doesn’t show how many workers each judgement applies to.
In total, these employer owed $422,237.18 to the workers who didn’t get the pay owed to them. The average judgement was $4,853.30, and the median judgement was $2,808.17.
The largest judgement was against the Calgary-based Choklat, also known as FTCG Enterprises Inc., which owed $65,629.14 and covered unpaid wages and unpaid vacation pay.
However, that wasn’t their only judgement. Here’s a list of all the judgements registered against them.
| 11 Apr 2022 | $8,425.31 | Wages, vacation pay |
| 19 Jun 2022 | $1,616.92 | Wages, vacation pay, overtime |
| 21 Jul 2022 | $1,262.18 | Wages, vacation pay, overtime |
| 26 Jul 2022 | $992.85 | Wages, vacation pay, overtime |
| 26 Jul 2022 | $813.30 | Wages, vacation pay, overtime |
| 10 Oct 2022 | $65,629.14 | Wages, vacation pay |
| 10 Oct 2022 | $5,384.50 | Wages, vacation pay |
That’s a total of $84,124.20 in unpaid wages, vacation pay, and overtime.
The smallest judgement was $252.70 and owed by Lester Sorenson, a construction consultant based out of the community of Wabamun. The judgement was for unpaid general holiday pay, overtime, and vacation pay.
Here are all the companies that had multiple judgements registered against them last year.
| Company | Total unpaid | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Dynasty Construction Ltd. | $16,184.72 | 5 |
| Unli Snow Plough Corp. (Canada Snow Plow) | $6,002.26 | 5 |
| Learn Play and Beyond Inc. (Learn Play and Beyond Child Care Center) | $21,592.39 | 4 |
| X-Calibur Pipeline and Utility Location Inc. | $12,439.45 | 3 |
| X2 Wireline Services Ltd. | $12,066.04 | 3 |
| Hosne Tanzima Inc. (Funflex Playcare) | $4,757.88 | 3 |
| Security Service Group Inc. | $21,457.15 | 2 |
| Carbone Restaurant Group Limited | $10,568.85 | 2 |
| Bryers Contracting Ltd. and/or Bryers Telecom Ltd. | $5,288.76 | 2 |
| Nottingham tobacconist & Smoke Shop Inc. (Nottingham Cigars and Pipes) | $5,060.55 | 2 |
| DGM Sales Inc. (Dream Roofing and Exteriors) | $4,898.97 | 2 |
| Same-Day Yardscapes Inc. | $3,580.71 | 2 |
| William Brandon Goronuk (WBG Construction & Renovation) | $1,687.98 | 2 |
Here are the 10 companies with the largest total amounts in unpaid judgements.
| Choklat Inc. | $84,124.20 |
| DJ Leelan Trucking Ltd. | $39,096.50 |
| Momentum Offsite Ltd. | $25,941.21 |
| Learn Play and Beyond Inc. | $21,592.39 |
| Security Service Group Inc. | $21,457.15 |
| Edward N Hayward (H&E Logging, Haylands Equipment) | $20,374.92 |
| Dynasty Construction Ltd. | $16,184.72 |
| X-Calibur Pipeline and Utility Location Inc. | $12,439.45 |
| X2 Wireline Services Ltd. | $12,066.04 |
| Brar JR Auto & Diesel Repair Ltd. | $11,718.00 |
When combining judgements for the same company, the average total per company ends up coming to $7,407.67, and the median total was $3,646.78.
Finally, here are the number of companies based on what types of compensation they didn’t pay their workers. Keep in mind that most companies fell into more than one category.
| Vacation pay | 78 |
| Wages | 73 |
| Overtime | 41 |
| General holiday pay | 35 |
| Termination pay | 12 |
| Unspecified | 5 |
Two companies—Brar JI Auto & Diesel Repair Ltd. of Calgary and Tim G Hall (Lucky Penny Pizza, Lucky Penny Bar and Grill) of Cochrane—received judgements for all 5 types of compensation.
Remember, this is just for companies who had Employment Standards judgements registered against them. Not all companies who don’t pay their workers enough will be reported to Employment Standards, let alone end up on the registry.
2 replies on “64 AB companies owed over $400K in worker backpay in 2022”
[…] In 2022, Alberta had 64 employers listed in the registry with a total of 87 judgements. That’s an average of 1.36 judgements per employer, compared to an average of 1.92 for 2023. […]
[…] 2023, 131 Alberta employers received a combined 252 judgements. In 2022, Alberta had 64 employers listed in the registry with a total of 87 judgements. That’s an average […]