Carriers – “compliant and noncompliant alike – are increasingly being visited by Employment & Social Development Canada (ESDC) … as it looks to stamp out the illegal misclassification of truck drivers,” reports TruckNews.com:
It had been about five years since J&R Hall was audited by ESDC. This year, it has been audited in both Ayr, Ont., and Winnipeg.
“They gave us about a week’s notice and told us what they wanted,” J&R Hall president Jeff Hall told trucknews.com. “…They were looking at driver files and strictly looking for Driver Inc. There was nothing else really even mentioned. It was focused on whether we had owner-operators or contract employees, which we don’t have either. So that’s why I think the session lasted as little time as it did.”
Hall would like to see ESDC focus its resources on fleets that are more likely to be noncompliant but understands the need not to target specific segments of the industry. Overall, he’s encouraged to see stepped up enforcement of employment laws.
“I don’t ever want to be a noncompliant fleet, but if they’re not going to enforce these rules then what’s the point?” he asked.
Trucknews.com is increasingly hearing from fleets outside the GTA and those with traditional payroll arrangements with drivers who have also been audited.
Even Spring Creek Carriers of Beamsville, Ont., owned by Mark Bylsma, chairman of the Ontario Trucking Association, which has vocally condemned driver misclassification, wasn’t immune from the ministry’s scrutiny.
“We have never been audited in the previous 29 years,” Gerard Kuntz, safety director and driver liaison told trucknews.com.
“The inspector showed up unannounced June 3. She asked questions about all aspects of our health and safety program including our workplace safety committee, monthly meetings, site health and safety inspections. As well, she did a high-level WSIB audit to ensure federal compliance. She asked for documentation for a number of these items. We completed the audit with a safety inspection walk-through of the facility where she asked questions about health and safety matters.”
Bylsma said he continues to hear from OTA member fleets who have been audited.
“Everyone that has called me in the last few months/weeks to tell me they’ve been audited are not upset,” Bylsma said. “They don’t feel targeted and are happy to cooperate if it means an eventual end to Driver Inc. and the many other labor and safety issues that are plaguing our industry.”
One such fleet is Wellington Group in Guelph, Ont. President Derek Koza has been critical of driver misclassification on social media and sure enough, ESDC recently popped by unannounced.
“The agents entered through reception, identified themselves, and within minutes were seated in our boardroom to begin the audit,” Koza recounted.
The auditors pored through employment records for all 350 staff, but gave special attention to the company’s driver force, which includes 104 full- and part-time employee drivers. A related company, Contract Express Ltd., was audited the prior day at a different location.
“No issues were identified. We have real-time access to payroll, driver contracts, and supporting documents, allowing us to clearly demonstrate the distinction between owner-operators and company drivers, and to confirm that all company drivers had source deductions completed each pay period,” Koza said.
Koza said many carriers that misclassify drivers feel trapped within the model, fearing their drivers will leave en masse if forced to work – and taxed — as employees.
“That thinking is flawed,” he told trucknews.com. “Enforcement will not stop until this issue is corrected across the industry. Drivers who believe they can simply move elsewhere are mistaken — audits are coming for everyone.”
Full story here.