Ukrainian woman in Manitoba claiming former employer has failed to pay her all owed wages

A Ukrainian woman living in Winnipeg is speaking out saying her former employer has failed to pay her and several other Ukrainian employees.

Viktoriia Korniienko started working at Pine Falls WorkWear at the end of July in 2022. When she first started, she said there were no obvious problems and she was being paid on time.

Once 2023 rolled around, that's when she started hearing concerns.

"I started discussing the wages between Ukrainian employees," said Korniienko through a translator. "Two ladies were concerned because each of them had about $5,000 unpaid and that's why the discussions started."

She said the employees all started discussing their pay and they all noticed they were missing money.

"I was supposed to be paid biweekly,” said Korniienko, “I worked (every) month, but I was only paid once per month."

She said she is owed just under $3,800.

Korniienko said she tried to stick it out as long as possible, but in May, she handed in her resignation and her last day was on May 17. She said the lack of steady pay cheques was impacting her family budget.

"On my last day, I received four pay cheques issued by my employer. The first one came through, no issues. The other three pay cheques, totalling around $3,500, didn't come through," she said, noting the cheques bounced.

Kenneth Zaifman, the principal at Zaifman Immigration Lawyers, said a steady job is extremely important to Ukrainians and all newcomers to the province as they have to work a minimum of six months to be eligible to apply for permanent residency.

"A temporary foreign worker has the same rights as any other worker in Manitoba, to be paid whatever their agreed salary is and holiday pay," said Zaifman.

He also recommends, that even if there are payment concerns which require newcomers to leave their job, they should still apply with permanent residency and then outline the problems they faced at their job and why they left.

There are also procedural steps employees can take to ensure they get paid. Zaifman said they can file a claim with Employment Standards.

"Employment Standards has the ability to act on behalf of the worker to get back the salary they should have gotten. So it's an effective, low cost tool for an employee."

Korniienko said claims have been started with Employment Standards and a provincial spokesperson confirmed there are six active claims against Pine Falls WorkWear at the moment.

In an interview with CTV News Winnipeg, the president of Pine Falls WorkWear, Julie Land, said she feels changes need to be made to Employment Standards.

"Teams of workers can get together and falsify claims. There is no defence or support for the employer. The Labour Board does not adjudicate decisions where cases have not been heard," said Land. "There is no voice for the employer, only the employee.

"Many employees have benefitted extensively from my free training and developing a new labour skill, support in English language skills and in leadership and team building skills, helping settle with their housing and generally assisting with integration of their citizenship."