Canada Revenue Agency’s final witness, Appeals Officer Lillian Callegari, will be cross-examined this week in Tax Court by lawyers assisting some of the 120 farmworkers denied EI due to false record-keeping by their employer during the 1997 harvesting season.
“These elderly berry pickers were not paid on time and in many cases never received the full amount of their earnings. Their employer’s conduct and record-keeping violated EI and Employment Standards laws meant to protect them,” said Pavan Joshi, a legal advocate with Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society. “The federal government has spent many years and an estimated $6M dollars investigating the workers, in many cases denying them several years of EI benefits, while the employer whose conduct was at fault has barely been penalized”.
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