Consistent enforcement by government, better workforce practices by HR can turn the tide, say experts
Wage theft, worker misclassification, and a fragmented enforcement system are converging into a workforce crisis for Canada's trucking industry – and HR leaders inside the sector, along with their organizations, are facing pressure to audit their workforce practices.
The pressure intensified in late May 2026 when the Globe and Mail reported that the industry is under scrutiny on Parliament Hill because of mounting concerns about wage theft, safety lapses, and employee misclassification. The findings reinforced what a February 2026 report by Justice for Truck Drivers/Labour Community Services of Peel and the West Coast Trucking Association – Running on Empty: Truck Drivers in Canada are Underpaid and Overworked – had already laid bare: almost 70 per cent of drivers reported dissatisfaction with the wages they earn, and 63 per cent reported one or more experiences of wage theft – with the average amount of unpaid wages reaching $10,000.
For HR leaders with companies in the logistics and supply chain sector, the exposure is no longer hypothetical. And for those outside the sector, it may be a case study of the ripple effect of misclassifying workers as independent contractors when they may be employees in reality.
Misclassification as the root problem
At the centre of the crisis is the widespread misclassification of truck drivers as independent contractors – a practice that strips workers of basic protections while saving companies significant money. Vijaydeep Singh Sahasi, president of the West Coast Trucking Association in British Columbia and a working driver himself, said the economics of misclassification are stark.
“I was talking to one of the accountants, and he said a company saves about $22,000 per driver if they misclassify them,” says Sahasi. “That's a huge amount for the company, and the drivers and owner-operators can just barely make their ends meet, whereas the companies are flourishing, they’re buying new businesses.”
Misclassification opens the door for unpaid wages and wage theft, which is “one of the main issues which we are facing right now” in the trucking industry, according to Sahasi.
“Every company wants to hire the drivers, but then they want to put them as owner-operators so they can get them to work as their own employees, but not to pay them as employees when it comes to the benefits,” says Sahasi.
The consequences extend well beyond compensation. According to the Running on Empty report, trucking makes up only 17 per cent of federally regulated employment, but 85 per cent of all confirmed Canada Labour Code violations were against trucking employers. Mark Seymour, CEO of Kriska Transportation Group and chair of the Truckload Carriers Association, has watched this dynamic unfold for years. He says misclassification functions as a gateway to a broader set of compliance failures.
“Our industry, sadly, is full of misclassification and that has bred other issues, whether it's human trafficking, safety issues, poor training standards, high accident levels, wage fraud and theft, or cargo fraud and theft,” says Seymour. “It starts very small, but once it gets exposed and becomes common, it becomes a breeding ground for other criminal, unscrupulous behaviour.”
Angela Splinter, CEO of Trucking HR Canada in Ottawa, says the harm falls squarely on workers who have no fallback. “They are being denied their basic protections – things like sick leave and paid time off,” says Splinter. “They don't have access to that and they need to work to make money. They have bills to pay like everybody else, so what does that lead to? Unsafe working conditions.”
Where enforcement falls short
Despite a 2024 amendment to the Canada Labour Code that shifted the burden of proof – requiring employers to demonstrate that a worker is properly classified as self-employed rather than placing the onus on the worker to prove they’re an employee – industry voices say enforcement has not kept pace with the scale of the problem.
Workers with labour standards complaints can currently expect to wait between 15 and 16 months for their file to even be assigned to a case officer, the Globe and Mail reported. Long wait times mean some employers empty their bank accounts, close down, and open a new company.
“The crackdown that’s coming from both Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Canada Revenue Agency, it’s nice to see them working together, but they just need to make sure that these companies are being caught and are being held accountable,” says Splinter.
Absence of consistent enforcement
Federal inspection blitzes have been conducted in the Hamilton and Greater Toronto Areas, with additional regions planned, and the Employment and Social Development Canada Labour Program is working closely with provinces and other federal partners on joint outreach and co-ordinated enforcement. But Seymour believes the core problem is not a lack of rules – it’s a lack of consistent application.
“We don't need more regulation, we need enforcement of existing regulations,” says Seymour. “There's recent data showing 80 or 85 per cent of commercial vehicle operating authorities in Ontario have never been audited, but they were given permission to operate in the province as a provincially regulated carrier.”
“We have lots of regulation, just not everybody follows it, and the reason a lot of people don't follow it is because it's loosely enforced,” adds Seymour.
Splinter echoes that frustration, pointing out the size of the penalties currently being levied against companies found to be noncompliant. Almost all of the publicly listed penalties issued to trucking companies were $12,000 or less, with compliance listed as unconfirmed for all but one company, according to the Globe and Mail.
“What we hear a lot from people within the industry is that the fines being imposed on them are simply a cost of doing business,” says Splinter.
The HR imperative: compliance, advocacy, and talent
For HR leaders working in or advising companies that rely on contracted labour, the question isn’t just how to respond to enforcement – it’s how to get ahead of it, according to Splinter.
"Trucking companies need to hire certified HR professionals, as a start, who understand the Canada Labour Code and they need to have the proper policies and procedures in place in order to be complaint,” says Splinter, who notes that many of the worst offenders don’t have an HR function at all.
“An HR practitioner is going to follow the rules and highlight that these are not proper practices, and they’re well equipped to set up companies to operate fairly and within the confines of the law,” she says. “If there's a company that just doesn't want to comply in the first place, that's certainly a red flag.”
Seymour says that in companies where misclassification is systemic, HR professionals are unlikely to be independent voices. “It's highly unlikely you're going to have a corrupt business owner who's hired a lily-white HR director,” he says. “The HR directors and the recruiters are looking to fill chairs with people who subscribe to the same ideals or lack of ideals that the leader of the business subscribes to.”
For HR leaders in legitimate organizations, Seymour believes that the most effective action is through industry bodies and advocacy channels that push for uniform enforcement.
Talent pipeline at risk
The talent pipeline is also at risk, says Sahasi, who points to the corrosive effect of wage theft on driver recruitment, particularly among younger Canadians. “Canadian-born and brought-up kids don’t want to join this industry anymore,” he said. "If it’s not lucrative anymore, how are we going to keep on running our economy? Trucking is the lifeline of any country.”
For Splinter, there’s reason for some optimism. She notes that close to 400,000 truck drivers work in Canada and many trucking companies are committed to doing things right. According to Splinter, Trucking HR Canada's Top Fleet Employer program recognizes carriers with sound HR practices, and she says the organization’s Women with Drive initiative has had success in broadening the industry's talent base.
“We want to highlight the positives that exist in our industry,” says Splinter. “When the economy changes and we start needing more drivers again, we need to make sure that we are competitive and attractive as a career choice, and this misclassification scheme that's happening out there is doing damage to that.”
For HR leaders in the logistics and supply chain sector, Splinter says they need to invest in compliant onboarding and payroll processes, and build the business case internally for workforce investment as a strategic priority – not just a legal obligation.
“Government enforcement needs to crack down on this misclassification of workers and, at the same time, those HR professionals out there working for the good fleets and working hard to get the workers what they need, we need to help them with telling the positive side of the story,” says Splinter. “These practices don’t just impact drivers – a lot of fleets that engage in these practices are doing it with other occupations, so we need to ensure that this is a sector where we can attract the workers that we need to meet nation-building priorities – we're a key part of that.”
