Toronto man still allowed to employ staff despite owing more than $1M in wages, fines

Ontario's Ministry of Labour published a news release in late May alerting the public that a Toronto businessman and his private school were fined $410,000 for failing to comply with orders to pay wages.

At the time, those fines were already two weeks past due with the courts.

Anchuan Jiang and his company Ontario International College were convicted under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) in March for not paying nearly $185,000 in wages owed to 14 employees as ordered. On top of the fines, there was also a 25 per cent victim surcharge. Both were supposed to be paid in Toronto's provincial offences court by May 12. 

But they weren't. 

As of last week, Jiang hadn't paid a cent of the $580,730 in fines and surcharges, according to Toronto's court services division. 

It's a familiar story: Jiang has been convicted before. Now, his case has employment lawyers calling for new enforcement tools to ensure workers get paid and new employees aren't victimized.

Four years ago, Jiang and his previous company, Norstar Times, were fined $100,000 for failing to pay more than $320,000 in wages as ordered. Those earlier fines, which total $141,610 with the victim surcharge, still haven't been paid either.

CBC Toronto first reported on wage theft claims involving Jiang seven years ago when former employees reached out with stories of waiting years to be paid. Most of them were international students who'd recently graduated or other newcomers working their first job in Canada.

Despite the province's enforcement efforts since then, a CBC investigation found that Jiang still owes up to $952,000 in wages and more than $732,000 in overdue and unpaid fines.

Jiang did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Employment lawyers say Jiang's case highlights the limitations of Ontario's enforcement system for wage theft and why new tools are needed to stop employers from continuing to run a business — and potentially victimize more workers — if they haven't paid outstanding wages and fines.

"It's very telling that this employer has previous convictions and was able to start a new business and do the same thing all over again," said Ella Bedard, staff lawyer at the Workers' Action Centre, which helps low-income workers solve workplace problems.

"There needs to be consequences for employers who don't pay, that aren't just slapping more fines on top of money owed."

Ontario's Ministry of Finance handles collections of orders to pay wages on behalf of the Ministry of Labour if they're not paid within 30 days. CBC Toronto asked the Ministry of Finance how much money Jiang and his companies still owe in unpaid wages.