Employer failed to provide financial, payroll, employment records before deadline
A Hamilton temporary help agency has been fined $125,000 for failing to produce payroll and employment records demanded by an Ontario employment standards officer, a requirement that applies to every employer in the province.
A Hamilton Provincial Offences Court convicted 1000523220 Ontario Inc. and its director, Du Duc Do, on Aug. 20, 2026, of failing to produce records and obstructing an inspection under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), according to a court bulletin from Ontario's Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
Justice of the Peace Alvaro Manuel Queijo imposed the fines after an ex parte trial, held without the defendants present. Christine Perruzza was Crown counsel.
The court also added a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge under the Provincial Offences Act, the ministry says.
ESA inspection stalled
During an inspection, an employment standards officer issued demands to the corporation and Do with a deadline of Nov. 24, 2023, the ministry says. The officer sought financial, payroll and employment records, along with the corporation's articles of incorporation and other business records. Nothing was submitted by the deadline, and no extension was requested.
As a result, the officer could not complete the inspection, according to the ministry.
Subsection 91(8) of the ESA requires anyone with custody of a record to produce it when an officer demands it. Subsection 91(11) bars anyone from hindering, obstructing or interfering with an inspection. Breaching either is an offence under section 132.
Under section 132, an individual faces a fine of up to $100,000, up to 12 months in jail, or both. A corporation faces up to $100,000 for a first conviction, $250,000 for a second and $500,000 for any after that.
Employers must also keep most employee records for three years and make them readily available for inspection, even when another party holds them, according to the ministry's ESA policy and interpretation manual.
Prosecutions over records
The case follows other Ontario prosecutions over record demands. Canadian HR Reporter (CHRR) has reported on a Hamilton staffing firm fined $100,000 for providing false records and on three Ottawa companies and their directors convicted under the ESA, who were fined $720,000 combined.
Carl Cunningham, a management-side employment lawyer then at Bennett Jones in Toronto, told Canadian HR Reporter in 2015 that records are central to defending wage claims.
"A lot of the claims under the ESA for wages, overtime pay, those are often record-driven – the timesheet, the timecard, the payroll statements. All of those documents, if you as the employer are trying to rebut or deny the employee's claim that they are entitled to those wages or overtime, you're going to need the documents and records to prove it," Cunningham said.
Clients of agencies carry their own duties. Agencies and recruiters must hold a licence under the ESA, and clients are expected to confirm an agency's status, as outlined in Ontario's licensing requirements for temporary help agencies and recruiters. The ESA also requires clients to keep records of work assignment employees perform for them.
The bulletin does not say whether 1000523220 Ontario Inc. held a licence.
