Mask manufacturer and engineering firm ordered to pay employee $50k

A company that manufactured COVID masks in Port Coquitlam during the pandemic is on the hook for a portion of $51,941 in employee wages, following a recent decision from the Employment Standards Tribunal.

Christine Kanno worked for Vitacore Industries from September 2021 to June 26, 2022. She started working for consulting company Absolute Building Science Strata Engineering Inc. on June 27, 2022.

After losing her job in August 2022, Kanno filed a complaint, alleging the companies owed her wages, overtime, and vacation pay. The tribunal agreed, and in December 2023 the two companies were ordered to pay Kanno $51,941, as well as $2,000 in administrative penalties.

Vitacore and Strata Engineering recently appealed that decision, noting that tribunal member Shannon Corregan had treated the two companies as one employer.

The companies, “have different boards of directors . . . [and] are engaged in very different businesses,” they contended.

Strata Engineering is an engineering consulting business while Vitacore is a medical equipment manufacturing business.

Each company filed essentially identical appeals, according to tribunal member David B. Stevenson.

Kannno testified that Strata Engineering “saw a business opportunity” and established Vitacore during the pandemic. Besides sharing staff and resources and regularly charging back wages and expenses from one company to the other, Vitacore’s revenue was covering Strata Engineering’s operations, according to Kanno.

While Kanno was hired by Vitacore, her office was in Strata Engineering’s headquarters in Burnaby. She served as the sole human resources provider for both companies.

Kanno’s argument was corroborated by Vitacore representative Mikhail Moore.

Vitacore was sort of like Strata Engineering’s “child,” Moore told the tribunal.

Any work Kanno did for Strata Engineering would have been related to Vitacore, according to Moore.

Kanno was also involved in transferring employees from Strata Engineering to Vitacore.

The two companies were in a “symbiotic relationship,” Stevenson concluded.

The Employment Standards Tribunal doesn’t accept appeals that challenge findings of fact or ask the tribunal to re-weigh the evidence.

“The arguments made here attempt to do both,” Stevenson noted. “I find there is no apparent merit to these appeals and no reasonable prospect they will succeed.”

The appeals were dismissed and the companies ordered to pay $53,941.