Kelowna daycare that shorted staffer $9,000 in wages loses another appeal

A Kelowna daycare on the hook $10,000 for failing to pay a former early educator, has failed in its latest attempt to overturn the ruling.

According to a recently published April 9 Employment Standards Tribunal decision, Creative Advantage Childcare owner Jennifer Edge said it was “absolutely outrageous” that she’d been ordered to pay the money and wanted a three-month extension to file a second appeal.

“It’s disgusting to be a business owner and to be treated so unfairly by Employment Standards,” she said in an email to the Tribunal. “This is going straight to the Ombudsperson’s office.”

However, the Tribunal ruled Creative Advantage Childcare hadn’t provided any information explaining why it needed additional time to file a second appeal.

The issue dates back to 2022 when an early educator who had worked at Creative Advantage Childcare for seven years was let go for “just cause.”

The staff member appealed her firing and Employment Standards ruled against the daycare and the finding of “just cause.”

It ordered Creative Advantage Childcare to pay $9,265 in severance pay and fined the business $1,000.

Edge appealed the ruling but lost.

In an unusual move, the current Employment Standard Tribunal decision reproduced emails Edge sent to the Tribunal after losing the appeal.

“The law is not being applied fairly and as an employer I am deeply concerned,” the email read. “I am now considering closing my five daycare locations and ending care abruptly to 200 parents and employment to 25 employees as I do not trust Employment Standards to protect my interests as an employer. This would be devastating for the entire City of Kelowna.”

The Tribunal wasn’t convinced.

“That Creative Advantage is considering closing its business because its principal does ‘not trust Employment Standards to protect my interests as an employer’ is not a relevant (legal) consideration,” the decision read. “Nor is the fact that if the business were to close there might be adverse (‘devastating,’ so says Creative Advantage) economic consequences ‘for the entire City of Kelowna.'”

The Tribunal calls the statement “more hyperbolic than plausible.”

Edge also accused the Tribunal of acting as “judge and jury” in a separate Employment Standards case in 2019. She claimed it used a “receipt from a store nearby to determine a start date to convict me of tax evasion.”

The Tribunal said to “clarify the record” that it had never found her “guilty of tax evasion.”

The 2019 case ordered Edge to pay $1,706.99 in unpaid wages and a $1,500 fine after she fired a staff member who handed in two weeks’ notice.

Edge also argued if she loses her appeal she won’t be able to hire foreign workers, which the industry depends on.

“I may as well close everything anyways if this ridiculousness is to continue,” her email read.

The decision showed communications back and forth between the Tribunal and Edge who said she’s made a complaint with the Ombudsperson.

The Tribunal points out the Ombudsperson is independent from the Tribunal.

“A complaint to the Ombudsperson does not operate as a ‘stay’ of any proceedings,” the Tribunal ruled.

Ultimately, the Tribunal ruled that the daycare couldn’t have an extension to file a second appeal.

“Creative Advantage has not provided a satisfactory explanation regarding why it was unable to file a properly supported application within the statutory reconsideration application period. None of the reasons Creative Advantage advanced in support of its extension request legitimately speaks to why it was unable to file a timely application,” the Tribunal ruled.

The Tribunal’s move leaves Edge to pay the former employee, who left the company more than three years ago and appears not to have yet been compensated.