Directors of Ontario restaurant fined $5,000 for crafting fake staff records

Investigation found payroll records and time sheets didn’t include all employees or hours worked

Giving fake payroll and employee records during an employment standards audit has cost the directors of an Ontario restaurant $5,000 in fines.

On Aug. 14, 2008, a provincial employment standards officer went to the Bamboo Terrace Tavern, in Collingwood, Ont., to conduct an audit of the restaurant's payroll and employment records. The restaurant’s directors, Edward Chiu Ling Soo-Hoo and Edward Chi Chung Chan, were required to provide a list of employees, time sheets and payroll records for the officer to examine. The following week, on Aug. 20, 2008, an employee of the restaurant advised the officer the records Soo-Hoo and Chan had given to the officer were false.

An Ontario Ministry of Labour investigation found another set of records in the restaurant and concluded that the first set of records was false. Specifically, the list of employees did not account for all workers, the payroll records reported false wage rates and the time sheets did not show actual hours worked or account for all employees.

Soo-Hoo and Chan both pleaded guilty to attempting to hinder, obstruct or interfere with an employment standards officer conducting an inspection of records. The Ontario Court of Justice fined each man $2,500 for the violation.

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