Failure to comply with orders to pay 15 former employees has resulted in fines totalling $37,404 against the now-closed Marj’s Village Kitchen restaurant here.
The corporation failed to comply with an order issued by a Ministry of Labour employment standards officer requiring payment of wages to employees.
The order was issued in May 2015.
Failure to comply with an order issued by an employment standards officer is an offence under the Employment Standards Act (ESA).
Employees were owed amounts ranging from over $300 to over $6,000. None of the amounts have been paid.
Following guilty pleas, Justice of the Peace Michael A. Cuthbertson convicted the company on 15 counts and imposed the fines in Guelph court on Nov. 21.
In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.
The restaurant closed in January of 2015 after Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health issued a warning that an employee had a confirmed case of hepatitis A while working at the business.
Anyone who ate at the restaurant during an 18-day period that month was advised to get a hepatitis A vaccination.
Although the business later passed inspection, owners elected not to reopen the restaurant.
Under the ESA, a corporation can be fined up to $100,000 for a first conviction, $250,000 for a second conviction and $500,000 for three or more convictions.
