Class Action Suit Filed Against Livingston for Failure to Pay Workers Overtime in Canada
Livingston International faces an 85 million Canadian dollar ($75.5 million) class action lawsuit in Canada for its alleged failure to pay its brokerage employees for overtime work. According to a complaint filed Oct. 1 at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the customs brokerage and freight forwarder discouraged its employees from seeking overtime compensation. Livingston also instituted policies to discourage them from making overtime claims, such as requiring advance approval for overtime even though the nature of the brokerage industry often requires its employees to work extra hours on short notice, says the complaint.
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"Earlier today, we were made aware of a class action lawsuit filed against Livingston International Inc. regarding our overtime pay practices," said Livingston in an Oct. 2 statement. "Livingston takes these allegations very seriously and will be reviewing the claim to understand the allegations and determine our next steps. We value our employees and recognize their contribution to our organization."
The lawsuit purports to be on behalf of current and former non-management employees in administrative, clerical, technical, and other support jobs that worked in any of Livingston’s 44 offices in Canada, including import analysts, release clerks, file clerks, transportation staff, runners, scanners and accounting staff. It was filed by Michael Boszik, who has worked in the brokerage industry since 1983 and came to Livingston in 2006 as a result of the company’s acquisition of Peace River Brokers. Boszik was “terminated without cause” in 2012 as a senior import analyst making CA$55,000 per year, says the complaint. He is represented by the Roy O’Connor, Sotos, and Sack Goldblatt Mitchell. The trio of law firms recently settled a similar lawsuit for CA$95 million with Scotiabank, according to Canadian media reports (here).
According to the complaint (here), Livingston requires its employees to provide a high level of customer service, and routinely tells its employees to “own the problem” and do whatever is necessary to ensure their clients’ shipments are not delayed. Because of the time-sensitive nature of the brokerage business and understaffing due to a downsizing at Livingston, the company’s employees had to consistently work overtime at a moment’s notice.
However, Livingston has a “consistent practice and unwritten policy” of refusing to compensate its employees for overtime worked and discouraging them from making claims for overtime pay, says the complaint. For example, despite the fact that employees must do overtime work at the drop of a hat, Livingston’s employment policies require advance approval of any overtime, and even when advance approval can be requested it is often denied, says the complaint. The company’s overtime policy also illegally restricts overtime compensation to time off instead of pay, and sets limits on the amount of time off that can accrue, it says.
The complaint says Livingston’s alleged reluctance to compensate for overtime violates Canadian provincial laws, as well as the company’s own employment contracts. It requests the court require Livingston pay CA$75 million, as well as CA$10 million in punitive damages. The court will now hear affidavits from current and former Livingston employees, and decide whether to “certify” the class and allow the case to proceed, according to a website created by the attorneys who filed the case (here).