77 Pinoys in Canada reach $1.3-M labor settlement

Seventy-seven overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Canada reached a labor settlement of $1.3 million on March 1 with the company that owns Denny's restaurants.

According to the news site Canada, the Filipinos reached the settlement with Northland Properties Corp. 

The Filipino workers will be reimbursed for overtime, loss of hours and airfare to Canada from the Philippines.

Charles Gordon, one of the lawyers representing the workers told Canada, “We’re happy that Denny’s is doing the right thing.”

Meanwhile, Denny's President Bobby Naicker said in a news release that the settlement makes sure that Denny's fully pays their employees for their valuable work.

“Our foreign worker recruitment program has been reviewed to ensure that the same accounting errors are not repeated in the future,” Naicker adds.

In 2010, Alfredo Sales, a Filipino working for Denny's filed a complaint against his employer for failing to pay his airfare and overtime work.

Thinking he will be accomodated by Denny's vice president, Sales was instead fired for “performance issues” seven days after his complaint, according to a report from the news site Theytee.

“I had big dreams when I came to Canada. I wanted to work and share my skills. I thought Denny's would be part of those dreams, but Denny's has integrity issues,” Sales said.

This inspired Herminia Vergara Dominguez and 75 other Denny's employees to file, along with Sales, a $10 million class action lawsuit against Northland Properties Corp in 2011.

Dennys and Northland Properties Corp. decided to go for a settlement that was finalized on March 1.

Denny’s will shoulder the payment of the legal fees of the workers and the cost of managing the settlement.

Canada is the third top destination of Filipinos where an estimated 842,651 Filipinos reside based on the 2011 Stock Estimate of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas- Andrei Medina, VVP, GMA News

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