Closed permits turned a reprisal case into a $178K bill for an Ontario employer
An Ontario construction company that fired two Jamaican migrant workers days after they asked for unpaid wages must pay more than $178,000 combined, after the province’s labour board sharply increased the compensation initially ordered.
Vice-Chair Alan Freedman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board issued the decision on May 1, 2026, ordering 10047481 Canada Corporation, operating as Polat Construction, to pay $87,936.95 to Garick Ramsook and $90,373.56 to his brother Ramesh Ramsook. The awards cover compensation in lieu of reinstatement, $2,500 each for emotional pain and suffering, and administration costs.
Asking for wages, then losing the job
The brothers came from Jamaica on closed work permits as cabinet makers, recruited through a friend already at the company. Written offers dated November 9, 2022, set a three-year term, but delayed travel meant they began on July 24, 2023, at $26.06 an hour for 42.5 hours a week. They told the board they intended to remain for the full two years.
On December 8, 2023, shortly after asking Polat Construction for outstanding wages, the company fired them. An employment standards officer found the company had breached subsection 74(1)(a)(i) of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 by terminating them for seeking to enforce their rights. The company did not seek review or appear at the hearing.
The officer initially gave each brother three weeks’ pay ($3,455.55) for time to find new work, four weeks’ pay ($4,607.40) for loss of reasonable expectation of continued employment, and $2,500 for emotional pain and suffering. Nothing was awarded for direct earnings loss. The brothers asked the board to revisit those figures.
Closed permits made the harm bigger
The brothers held closed work permits, so they could not legally work for any other Canadian employer until open permits arrived. Garick Ramsook received his on June 12, 2024, valid until June 11, 2025. Ramesh Ramsook got his on June 24, 2024, expiring June 24, 2025. They told the board these permits for vulnerable workers were non-renewable.
The company had guaranteed the brothers’ rent under a 12-month lease and paid some of it directly. After the firings, it withdrew the guarantee. Eviction proceedings began, and their tenancy ended in August 2024. A non-governmental organization assisted with rent.
Vice-Chair Freedman merged the “time required to find a new job” and “loss of reasonable expectation of continued employment” damages into one calculation running from termination to each brother’s open work permit expiry. The question, he wrote, was “what is the compensation that puts the applicants in the position they would have been in had the responding party company not committed a reprisal under the Act by unlawfully terminating their employment?”
What the math means for employers
Garick Ramsook’s wage loss came to $26.06 times 42.5 hours over 78.5 weeks, or $86,942.68, less $9,500 in post-termination earnings. Ramesh Ramsook’s covered 80.5 weeks at $89,157.78, also less $9,500. The board declined to reduce either award for failure to mitigate, noting Polat Construction led no such evidence.
The $2,500 each for emotional pain and suffering stayed untouched, plus 10 per cent in administration costs. Polat Construction was ordered to pay the Director of Employment Standards in trust by May 31, 2026. No interest was awarded.
Compensation for reprisal may extend beyond conventional notice or severance periods where the evidence shows a longer expected duration of employment. In this case, the Board assessed damages based on the period during which the employees would have remained employed but for the unlawful termination, taking into account their work permit restrictions, contractual expectations, and inability to seek alternative employment. The decision also reiterates that any reduction for failure to mitigate must be supported by evidence from the employer, and absent such evidence, no deduction will be made on that basis.
See Garick Ramsook v 10047481 Canada Corporation o/a Polat Construction, 2026 CanLII 44353
