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The Bank of Montreal is facing a class action lawsuit accusing it of violating the Canada Labour Code by shortchanging employees on public holiday and vacation pay.
According to a former employee and the plaintiff Paul Cheetham, the bank improperly calculated employees’ vacation and public holiday pay by using their base pay rather than including bonuses, commissions, stock options, and share units. The Bank of Montreal class action lawsuit comes in the aftermath of massive layoffs at the company.
The plaintiff says that he worked as a financial advisor and wealth consultant with the Bank of Montreal (BMO) from 2009 until 2017. According to the Bank of Montreal class action lawsuit, Paul was paid a base salary of $45,000, but made about $200,000 each year including variable compensation, such as bonuses and commission.
According to the Bank of Montreal class action lawsuit, BMO neglected to include variable compensation in the holiday and vacation pay of employees since at least 2010.
Paul alleges that many bank employees, such as himself, are paid bonuses, commissions, and other compensation, on top of their base pay.
“BMO is making billions, but it is cutting its workforce for the sake of profit and in our opinion not paying its variable compensation employees proper vacation and holiday pay,” noted a lawyer representing the plaintiff. “While individually these amounts might seem relatively small, they add up to a substantial sum of money for the bank.”
According to Newswire Canada, BMO was awarded as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the past three years; however, BMO recently announced it would be cutting over 2,000 of its employees in Canada.
The Bank of Montreal class action lawsuit seeks to represent a class of BMO employees who received variable compensation in addition to their base pay, but were only paid vacation and holiday pay based on their base pay.
The plaintiff accuses BMO of violating Canadian labour law with its pay policies and is seeking punitive, moral, and/or aggravated damages.
“BMO acted in a callous manner by not resolving the issue once it learned of it but instead attempting to not pay retroactive Vacation Pay and Holiday Pay to those employees affected,” notes one of the supporting arguments for damages in the Bank of Montreal class action lawsuit.
The proposed Class in the Bank of Montreal class action lawsuit has not yet been certified. According to Newswire Canada, three other class action lawsuits making similar claims have been lodged against the bank.
Are you a former Bank of Montreal employee who lost out on vacation and holiday pay because of the alleged violation of the Labour Code? Tell us your story in the comments below!
The plaintiff and proposed Class Members are represented by Andrew Monkhouse of Monkhouse Law – Employment Lawyers.
The Bank of Montreal Class Action Lawsuit is Paul Cheetham. v. Bank of Montreal, Case No. VLC-S-S-201733, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada.
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