Tire shop workers unable to recoup unpaid wages
A longtime Windsor shop manager is frustrated that the province appears powerless to help him and others who were terminated without severance, even as the business continued under the same name and ownership.
“I just want what I’m entitled to. I don’t believe I’m asking for anything outlandish,” said Dennis Kokovai, 61, who was manager of the Howard Avenue outlet of Serbu Tire before being let go in 2013 after 25 years. He currently lives on a disability pension after a kidney transplant.
He and about 10 others shown the door were told there was no money left to pay them severance and vacation pay. On Kokovai’s behalf, the Ontario Ministry of Labour issued an order to pay wages in the amount of $8,236.80 and had a sheriff and the courts try to collect — to no avail.
Difficulty collecting money owed to workers has been identified as a broader problem in an ongoing review of Ontario’s employment and labour standards legislation, Labour Minister Kevin Flynn acknowledged in a letter to Kokovai in December.
While the circumstances may not have been identical, in 201415 there were 15,484 Ministry of Labour employment standards complaints filed in Ontario — including those against Serbu Tire. In an interim report, the two special advisers leading the review state that there needs to be “more efficient and effective ways to collect moneys owing to employees.”
“It’s simply unjust that employees can be left holding the bag,” said Essex MPP Taras Natyshak, who was contacted by Kokovai in the fall after he’d exhausted other efforts to recover what he’s owed.
Following Natyshak’s queries, Kokovai in December received a letter from Finance Minister Charles Sousa, whose department is contracted by the labour ministry to collect outstanding debts. A provincial collector had spoken to “the debtor” last July and been advised “that the business is no longer operating and that all its assets were sold,” it said.
“That’s not true,” Kokovai said, pointing out that Serbu Tire had resumed operations, the business is still listed at the same location and is still owned by Tom Serbu.
The ministry “can only collect from the legal entity to which the order was issued,” Sousa said in his letter.
After “all progressive collection actions were exhausted, the file was returned to the (Ministry of Labour) on August 12, 2016, as uncollectable,” Sousa said.
Contacted by the Star, Tom Serbu said the legal entity that had been Serbu Tire — registered in 1975 as Wheel City (Windsor) Ltd. — folded in 2013. A new legal entity called Serbu Tire was registered on Nov. 21, 2016, as a sole proprietorship owned by Tom Serbu, according to Ontario’s business registry.
Serbu Tire is “now a different company altogether,” said Tom Serbu.
As of the beginning of February, Wheel City (Windsor) Ltd. remained listed as an active corporation.
Kokovai estimates those let go without severance are probably owed as much as $100,000 in total, but Serbu said “we’re not obligated by law to pay.”
Natyshak said the Serbu Tire case is proof there’s something wrong with Ontario’s employment and labour laws and that employees need more protection.
In cases like that of Serbu Tire, there should at least be a mechanism through which the business can work out a gradual payment deal with former employees, Natyshak said.
Kevin Kelly, another former Serbu Tire manager let go in May 2013, said he’d love to get the approximately $11,000 he’s still owed, but more than three years later, “that’s water under the bridge.”
Kelly said he was initially “bitter, when I didn’t have a job or money,” but he and four others who were let go opened their own business four months later, and “we’re busy here.”
Expert Tire & Alignment operates a block away from Serbu Tire.
Kokovai said he’s “not a disgruntled employee” and that Tom Serbu otherwise “treated everyone well.”