Edmonton – News today that Buffet World restaurants have pled guilty to violating employee standards legislation and been fined $1,500 in exchange for the Crown withdrawing other charges failed to impress labour.

"This company has had 91 employee complaints in the past six years," said Alberta Federation of Labour President Audrey Cormack. "Among the most serious was charges of failing to pay employees for work done."

"The fact that these complaints continued to be generated for six years indicates the employer was paying little attention to either the Employment Standards Code or the Officers who are supposed to enforce workers’ rights in Alberta," said Cormack. "Now, even as the company gets off with a slap on the wrist, a new charge has been levied against them. Apparently the court proceedings and fine haven’t acted as much of a deterrent," she added.

Buffet World was fined $1,500 although violating the act carries a maximum penalty of $100,000. According to Cormack, the light penalty sends exactly the wrong message to employers. "When workers’ organizations violate labour laws, government has levied huge fines, like the $400,000 fine against AUPE," said Cormack. "But when an employer is repeatedly charged for violating employment standards laws over an extended period of time, the company only gets a token fine."

Lack of a strong deterrence is only the tip of the iceberg, according to labour. "There are too few employment standards officers to handle the complaints that workers themselves bring forward," said Cormack. "But what we really need is sufficient officers to do enough random checks in workplaces to convince employers that if they cheat, they will be caught."

Cormack also called for severe penalties for repeat offenders. "This is a wealthy province," she concluded. "Employers have no defensible excuse for cheating workers out of their most basic minimum rights and entitlements."