Primary Response Class Action Cert. Hearing Rescheduled

The recertification hearing for a Canadian Primary Response class action lawsuit over allegations of unpaid wages has been rescheduled to May 7 and 8, 2020.

The plaintiff, Kionna Horner, is seeking certification of a proposed Class of current and former security guards who worked for Primary Response Inc., which was later purchased by Garda Canada Security Corporation.

Potential Class Members include those who worked as security guards for the companies in Ontario since Feb. 27, 2011.

Horner says that during her stint as a security guard from Feb. 1, 2016 until June 1, 2018, she was subject to unpaid work and overtime, as were other security guards.

According to the Primary Response class action lawsuit, the company required all security guards to show up 15 minutes early for their scheduled shifts, but refused to pay them for that time and work duties they were required to perform. Per the Primary Response security handbook, security guards had to be in uniform, contact their dispatch, and show their license to the guard upon ending their shift.

Horner alleged that Primary Response security guards were routinely either forced or allowed to perform unpaid work. She says that she and others worked overtime hours to complete their duties, but were dissuaded from reporting those hours.

The plaintiff also accused Primary Response and Garda Canada of averaging overtime pay over two-week time periods.

“An overtime averaging agreement allows an employer to average overtime hours, to be calculated after 88 hours, over a two week work/pay cycle,” explains the Primary Response class action lawsuit. However, Primary Response allegedly had no such overtime averaging agreement in place.

The Primary Response class action lawsuit says the company let an overtime averaging agreement expire. Though Primary Response submitted a new application for an averaging agreement to the Ontario Ministry of Labor, that application was rejected; however, the company continued to apply two-week overtime averaging to security guards’ wages.

“Primary Response unlawfully concealed or failed to disclose the expiry of its overtime averaging agreement and the denial of its new overtime averaging agreement application to the Class Members, and continued to average the Class Members’ overtime over a two week/pay cycle in violation of [the law],” contends the complaint.

According to the Primary Response class action lawsuit, security guards were also not paid according to a central and uniform procedure. Horner says Primary Response did not even have an “effective, reasonable and accurate” way for all security guards to keep track of their hours.

The plaintiff accuses Primary Response of failing to keep proper employment records, failing to inform security guards when they were entitled to overtime pay, and enforcing a uniform deposit policy in violation of wage and hour laws.

According to the complaint, Primary Response unlawfully deducted uniform costs from their employees’ wages.

Horner claims that these actions violate Canada’s Employee Standards Act, 2000.

Are you a current or former Primary Response security guard? Tell us about your working conditions in the comments below.

The plaintiff is represented by Charles Sinclair, Christine Davies, and Joshua Mandryk of the Goldblatt Partners LLP.

The Primary Response Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit is Kionna Horner v. Primary Response Inc. and Garda Canada Security Corporation, Case No. CV-18-00603648-00CP, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Canada.

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