Ex-Mariner Seafood workers allege paycheques docked

A Prince Edward Island seafood company is defending itself against complaints from former employees who travelled from Thailand to work at the company.

At a hearing before the province's Employment Standards Board, several former workers of Mariner Seafood alleged the company and its president, Mark Bonnell, owed them money.

Through a translator, six women testified on Wednesday that their paycheques were being docked unfairly.

Chris McCormack, the boyfriend of former worker Janyaluck Phasuk, said the workers simply want to be paid the money they feel they are owed.

"In 2010, they deducted 10 hours off every cheque and showed no record of them working it at all," said McCormack, who did not testify at the hearing.

The workers said during the hearing that the company told them the deductions were to pay for their return airfare to Thailand. They testified their contracts states return airfares were to be paid by Mariner Seafood.

'Surprised' by action

Bonnell, who did not want to be interviewed, said in his closing summation that the company lived up to the contracts.

"Mariner Seafood was glad to have help, glad these people came, and we tried to work things out the best we could," he said.

"We didn't realize they'd be so ungrateful and everyone is surprised by their actions."

In total, 45 of 71 workers from Thailand have filed complaints against Mariner Seafood. An employment standards officer investigated the complaints when they were first made last year and issued an order against Mariner Seafood.

The company appealed the order to the Employment Standards Board, which led to this week's hearings.

"It is a first for us here on P.E.I. but certainly not in the country," said Faye Martin, the provincial director of labour and industrial relations.

"Immigrant foreign workers are being brought in to many, many provinces and territories across the country and I think we're all finding our way with various pieces of legislation."

One of the women who testified on Wednesday said she was among a group of workers who lost their jobs when she complained about her paycheque.

'Out on the street'

McCormack told CBC News it has been a tough time for the workers.

"They were laid off right away, the same day as they made the complaints and they were pretty much put out on the street, kicked out of their accommodations," he said.

"They had to fend for themselves."

In her closing statement on Wednesday, one woman said she wants people to know the conditions she worked under whether or not she gets her money back. The six women who testified on Wednesday have all since found new jobs.

The board did not say when it expects to have a decision in the case.