Ministry Rules in COTAPSA's Favour
COTAPSA has just received a written decision from the Ministry of Labour informing us that they are upholding COTAPSA’s Employment Standards Act Complaint for unpaid wages and the City of Toronto has contravened the Employment Standards Act.
This is the second time that COTAPSA has been successful. You may recall that COTAPSA filed a similar Complaint in 2004 and won.
In October, 2009, COTAPSA originated the formal Complaint for “Unpaid Wages” with the Ministry of Labour under the Employment Standards Act. Attached is a letter from the Ministry of Labour to the City of Toronto confirming that COTAPSA filed the claim for “Unpaid Wages” on behalf of eligible employees who did not receive their re-earnable performance pay for 2008.
COTAPSA has become aware that the Toronto Municipal Professionals, an affiliate of the Society of Energy Professionals, a union, is attempting to claim credit for this victory. To be clear, COTAPSA initiated this Complaint on behalf of the approximately 800 employees who are COTAPSA Members eligible to receive the re-earnable lump sum performance pay for 2008. Although they are attempting to claim otherwise, TMP never filed a Complaint. Their Counsel simply assumed carriage of the Complaint for approximately 20 employees about one year after COTAPSA initially filed the Complaint.
COTAPSA wanted to do the responsible thing and wait until we had the written decision from the Employment Standards Officer before communicating with our Members. We have just received that decision.
As the Association formally recognized as the representative for the non union employees, COTAPSA will be meeting with the City of Toronto later this week to discuss next steps and will keep you informed.
