Employment Standards Branch investigating pay complaints from six former tech workers

P.E.I.'s Employment Standards Branch is investigating complaints from six of 50 employees terminated by a Charlottetown online tech support company.

The former employees of Server Sitters are asking about the lack of notice they say the company gave them, and whether they are eligible for severance.

• Charlottetown tech support company cuts 50 employees

Employment Standards says it is investigating whether the situation faced by the company met the terms of exceptions provided for under the Employment Standards Act.

'Forced to liquidate some assets'

Paul Schoolfield, CEO of Server Sitters, wrote in an email to CBC thatthe company will be paying the former employees outstanding pay and vacation pay by Monday at the latest.

He explained saying, "With the sudden departure of the client they were working for I was forced to liquidate some assets in order to cover the outstanding liabilities."

But he said because the company unexpectedly lost a major contract, it doesn't have to pay severance.

Schoolfield referred to Section 29 of the Employment Standards Act that deals with notice of termination.

It says the number of weeks notice employers must give to employees before they are terminated does not apply to "a person who is terminated or laid off for any reason beyond the control of the employer, including ...the cancellation or suspension of, or inability to obtain, orders for the products of the employer, if the employer has exercised due diligence to foresee and avoid the cause of termination or layoff."

The Department of Workforce and Advanced Learning said, after the Employment Standards Branchinvestigation, it will look at the act to see if there needs to be any improvements to protect employees, and whether that section needs to be clarified so both workers and employers are better aware of what this section means for them.

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