A major player in airline catering is suing for $2.5 million a network of placement and staffing agencies in Laval that it says provided it with more than 250 foreign workers without work permits.
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Newrest, a multinational that prepares 9,000 meals a day for planes departing from Montreal-Trudeau, is taking action against agencies linked to Guillermo Montiel Villalvazo, to whom it has paid millions of dollars since 2019.
In a civil lawsuit filed this Monday, a copy of which was obtained by the Journal, Newrest alleges that Villalvazo used his network “to conceal the illegality of the situation of unlicensed foreign workers and to enrich himself at the expense of those people and Newrest.”
The caterer estimates that it employed about 265 unlicensed workers through several employment and staffing agencies called “Treasury.”
From tourist to employee
The lawsuit alleges that Trésor gave foreigners work permits that they could even obtain with a visitor visa under a new federal government policy.
After workers, particularly Latin Americans, arrived in the country, the agency informed them that they would have to complete a probationary period to receive their work permits.
Many of them were then placed with Newrest and then paid in cash by the agency every Friday.
Without him knowing
The company writes that it recognized this “troubling situation” after filing a class action authorization request with the Center for Immigrant Workers (CTI) last month. There it was called the same as Trésor.
However, she states: “[n’avoir été] not informed about this in any way [les travailleurs de Trésor] did not have a work permit that would allow them to work legally in Canada.
Newrest has since claimed to have reached an agreement with the CTI and committed to helping the workers obtain valid permits and paying them compensation, even if the incidents occurred “without their knowledge.”
“Given Trésor’s silence and the precarious situation of workers,” she also set up an emergency fund to help affected employees pay their November rent, as Trésor claimed their salaries were stolen.
Given the loss of all of this staff, Newrest also had to terminate meal preparation contracts for Tunisair and Turkish Airlines, with the loss estimated at $69,000.
She is now demanding a total of $2.5 million from Villalvazo and her agencies, including for defamation of reputation and punitive damages.
-With Michael Nguyen
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