Ontario court also orders 25 per cent victim fine surcharge
Ontario employer ML Staffing Solutions has been fined $100,000 after admitting it provided false records and obstructed an employment standards officer during a ministry inspection.
The Hamilton-based temporary help agency pleaded guilty in Ontario Provincial Offences Court in Hamilton to offences under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). The violations occurred between Jan. 27, 2023 and Feb. 3, 2023, with the conviction registered on Feb. 25, 2026, according to Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
Following the guilty plea, Justice of the Peace Fabiano F. de M. Mendes imposed a $100,000 fine.
The court also ordered a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act, with the surcharge credited to a special provincial government fund “to assist victims of crime,” the ministry said.
Recently, an oil and gas executive who forged a certification document to save his struggling company learned that good intentions cannot rescue dishonest conduct.
Demand for records, false records, obstruction
According to Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the case began on Dec. 28, 2022, when an employment standards officer conducting an inspection of ML Staffing Solutions Inc. issued a demand for records to determine the company’s compliance with the ESA. In response, the company “provided partial records.” The officer also obtained records from the company’s clients and its bank.
During a review of all records, the officer found “multiple discrepancies.” While the client and bank records matched, “none of the information contained in the company records was accurate.” The ministry stated, “The company had made and provided false records to the officer.”
As a result, “the officer was unable to conduct an inspection to determine the company’s compliance with the ESA.”
False records contrary to ESA
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said the company failed, as an employer, in two key ways.
First, it produced “false records, contrary to section 131(1) of the ESA, which is an offence contrary to section 132 of the ESA.” Second, it “hindering, obstructing and/or interfering with an employment standards officer conducting an investigation, contrary to subsection 91(11) of the ESA, which is an offence contrary to section 132 of the ESA.”
Section 131(1) of the ESA reads: “No person shall make, keep or produce false records or other documents that are required to be kept under this Act or participate or acquiesce in the making, keeping or production of false records or other documents that are required to be kept under this Act.”
Meanwhile, subsection 91(11) of the ESA states that no person shall “hinder, obstruct or interfere with or attempt to hinder, obstruct or interfere with an employment standards officer conducting an investigation or inspection.”
Section 132 of the act states: “A person who contravenes this Act or the regulations or fails to comply with an order, direction or other requirement under this Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable,
(a) if the person is an individual, to a fine of not more than $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 12 months or to both;
(b) subject to clause (c), if the person is a corporation, to a fine of not more than $100,000; and
(c) if the person is a corporation that has previously been convicted of an offence under this Act or a predecessor to it,
(i) if the person has one previous conviction, to a fine of not more than $250,000, and
(ii) if the person has more than one previous conviction, to a fine of not more than $500,000.”
Federal tax officials faced 370 founded cases of misconduct in 2024–2025, including employees snooping in tax files, falsely claiming hours worked and misusing Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) assets, according to a previous government report.
