Closed permits turned a reprisal case into a $178K bill for an Ontario employer
An Ontario construction company that fired two Jamaican migrant workers days after they asked for unpaid wages must pay more than $178,000 combined, after the province’s labour board sharply increased the compensation initially ordered.
Vice-Chair Alan Freedman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board issued the decision on May 1, 2026, ordering 10047481 Canada Corporation, operating as Polat Construction, to pay $87,936.95 to Garick Ramsook and $90,373.56 to his brother Ramesh Ramsook. The awards cover compensation in lieu of reinstatement, $2,500 each for emotional pain and suffering, and administration costs.
The brothers came from Jamaica on closed work permits as cabinet makers, recruited through a friend already at the company. Written offers dated November 9, 2022, set a three-year term, but delayed travel meant they began on July 24, 2023, at $26.06 an hour for 42.5 hours a week. They told the board they intended to remain for the full two years.
On December 8, 2023, shortly after asking Polat Construction for outstanding wages, the company fired them. An employment standards officer found the company had breached subsection 74(1)(a)(i) of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 by terminating them for seeking to enforce their rights. The company did not seek review or appear at the hearing.
The officer initially gave each brother three weeks’ pay...
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