Taylor Mergui Representing Security Workers in $22M Class Action Against Employer and City for Employment Standards Breaches
Taylor Mergui Law Group is pleased to represent a group of security workers in a $22 million class action against their employer, city contractor One Community Solutions (OCS), and the City of Toronto for irregular pay, unpaid overtime, unpaid holiday pay, and violations of the Employment Standards Act and the Human Rights Code.
These workers are frontline heroes, providing security for encampments, injection sites, homeless shelters, hospitals, and municipal facilities. Many work 70-100 hours weekly, proudly helping the vulnerable while protecting public safety.
OCS has received over $40,000,000 in contracts from the City of Toronto alone since 2020, mainly for labour costs. Despite this, hundreds of workers have not been paid at all in January. They have only just began to receive their pay for December. These workers are illegally never paid overtime rates. In 2020, OCS withheld a $4/hour mandatory pandemic pay premium and was nonchalant when challenged by media after workers went public to demand their pay.
These workers are also mainly new Canadians in financially-precarious situations, who are afraid to speak up because the contractor has fired employees like the representative Plaintiff, who was kicked to the curb with no severance and no ability to collect EI after he asked why he wasn't paid overtime despite working 100 hour weeks.
OCS' violation of basic employment standards have been reported since 2020, yet despite this, the City continues to extend OCS' contracts and the company has continues to receive millions in public dollars. Notably, the City's contracts with OCS, specifically pay a premium for overtime labour costs which are not being passed onto workers but are instead clearly used to enrich the contractor.
Partner Ryan O’Connor and Senior Associate Gurpreet Farmaha are leading the class action on behalf of the firm. This is a matter of great public importance, not only in supporting the affected workers, but as well in holding the City of Toronto and its contractor accountable for squandering public funds meant to keep residents safe.
If you or your clients are affected employees, please feel free to contact ryano@tmpi.ca or gurpreet@tmpi.ca.