The Toronto Star talks to GP’s Josh Mandryk and Ella Bedard about the proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of Pizza Nova deliver drivers
Goldblatt Partners LLP has launched a proposed class action lawsuit against Pizza Nova and its franchises. The proposed class action claims that Pizza Nova’s Ontario franchises misclassify their delivery drivers as independent contractors, rather than as employees. They also fail to pay drivers the minimum wage and benefits they are entitled to under employment standards legislation.
In a Toronto Star report on the lawsuit, Josh Mandryk and Ella Bedard explain more about the claim and the the proposed representative plaintiff, Juan Jose Lira Cervantes:
Josh Mandryk, a lawyer with Goldblatt Partners — the Toronto-based labour law firm launching the class action — described driver misclassification as “pervasive in the pizza delivery industry” and said it “denies these workers of core workplace protections.”
The COVID-19 pandemic “highlights not only how critical these workers are to Pizza Nova’s operations, but also how important it is that they receive the same basic workplace protections as other employees,” added co-counsel Ella Bedard.
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As reported by the CBC in 2018, the provincial Ministry of Labour found a Domino’s Pizza franchise that previously employed Cervantes misclassified him as an independent contractor. The franchise was ordered to pay him more than $25,800. Cervantes only received $6,300 because the franchise voluntarily dissolved, even though “the same pizza business continues to operate at the very same location,” Mandryk said.
“This experience highlights deep flaws in Ontario’s employment standards regime and its failure to protect working people,” Mandryk told the Star.
“Mr. Cervantes decided to pursue a class action and to be the representative plaintiff in this action because he wanted to create real and systemic change at Pizza Nova and in the pizza delivery business more broadly.”