Ontario class action settlement reclassifies volunteers as employees, setting new precedent

More than four years after the launch of a class action lawsuit against a company that ran student travel excursions, an Ontario court has approved a settlement between the organization and former trip leaders who argued they were not paid as employees.

The suit alleged trip leaders with travel firm S-Trip were classified as volunteers while leading student trips, but in reality were doing the work of employees. 

The firm's Toronto-based parent company — I Love Travel — has now agreed to a $450,000 settlement and to reclassify staff on future trips as employees rather than volunteers.

"I was very relieved, very happy for it … just knowing that something can be changed that is going to impact others and not just myself," said D'Andra Montaque, the lead plaintiff on the case who led a student trip to Cuba in 2017. 

The settlement was approved by an Ontario Superior Court judge on June 27, 2022, according to court documents.

The case is a victory for Montaque and other former trip leaders who are now eligible to be compensated for the work they did. As the first class action litigation of its kind in Canada, the case has the potential to impact employment law moving forward, the judge who presided over the litigation said.

Some experts say we can expect to hear more cases like this and the settlement is a sign that the courts are adapting to the new realities of some workplaces.

The class action suit followed a 2017 CBC Toronto investigative story about the company's labour practices that detailed how college-age students and recent graduates were explicitly told to expect 14-hour workdays, yet signed a contract that designated them a volunteer. 

Montaque told CBC Toronto in 2018 her only payment for more than a week of work was an honorarium of $150; more than half was used to pay for her S-Trip uniform. 

"I knew that I wasn't alone in my experience, and I wanted to see if I could do something that would help others feel like they can also take that step forward in similar situations that may arise," Montaque said this week.

"It's a really great feeling."

According to Montaque's lawyer, Joshua Mandryk with Goldblatt Partners LLP in Toronto, there are 1,170 class members on record. A notice will go out to them; anyone who led a trip between June 3, 2014, and Oct. 23, 2020, will be eligible to file a claim for compensation. 

The amount of money trip leaders will be entitled to depends on a number of factors, including how many former staff put in a claim for compensation and how many trips they took. Mandryk said it's estimated that the compensation should cover the equivalent of eight hours of work a day for each trip a claimant took.

As a labour lawyer, Mandryk said he handles many of these types of cases, but what stands out about this one is that the company actually agreed to change its policies.