A class action lawsuit has been filed against Allstate Insurance Company of Canada (Allstate Canada), which seeks $80 million over charges that the company shortchanged its commission-based employees on overtime, as well as public holiday and vacation pay.
The lawsuit was filed by the Toronto-based law firm Monkhouse Law in the Superior Curt of Justice, on behalf of a man who had previously worked as a business development agent at Allstate in 2019. But the class action lawsuit includes all commissioned employees of Allstate Canada who were paid vacation and public holiday pay on their base draw only, not total wages.
The complaint alleges that Allstate violated the Employment Standards Act (ESA) by failing to accurately pay the commission of its salespeople.
Monkhouse Law’s allegations have yet to be proven in court.
According to the lawsuit, Allstate had a “systemic policy of never paying overtime to its salespeople.” The lawsuit also claims that the company failed to provide minimum employment standards relating to its employees, explaining that under the ESA, employees must be paid additional public holiday pay which is above their regular pay.
The complaint also alleged that Allstate had “no written policies or directives, no printed information for employees, and no standardized systems or centralized record-keeping.” It also maintained that although commissioner salespeople received bonuses for exceeding sales targets, they did not get any vacation and statutory holiday pay calculated on total wages.
“Allstate prides itself on being one of the best employers but, in fact, appears to us to incorrectly calculate benefits for their workers or pay overtime,” Monkhouse Law founder Andrew Monkhouse said in a statement. “The company's practice of not paying commission employees proper overtime and vacation entitlements is denying them their statutory rights. We want to certify this class action to ensure that employees get paid for what they're owed.”
