Court finds core employment factors can be decided collectively across all Pizza Nova drivers
On March 24, 2026, Ontario's Divisional Court issued a split ruling in a class action in which the plaintiff claimed $150 million in general damages and $5 million in punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages, alleging that approximately 1,800 or more Pizza Nova delivery drivers were misclassified as independent contractors.
In Cervantes v. Pizza Nova Take Out Ltd., Justice Matheson, writing for a three-judge panel, dismissed the plaintiff's appeal while granting the franchisees' appeal in part, striking the conspiracy claim. What survived: a class action alleging those drivers were employees, not independent contractors, denied entitlements under Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000. At the centre of it all were a mandatory Operations Manual, the pizza delivery system, a template driver contract, and two forms of franchise agreements — documents the court identified as central to the question of who controlled how drivers were classified and engaged.
Pizza Nova grew from a single Toronto restaurant into a franchisor with approximately 140 franchisees across Ontario. Lead plaintiff Juan Jose Lira Cervantes drove for four Pizza Nova locations in Toronto, was paid as an independent contractor, and received none of the statutory benefits he claimed were owed, including minimum wage, vacation pay, and employer contributions to EI and CPP.
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