Judge approves class-action suit against Pan Pacific over COVID terminations

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A judge has given the green light for a class-action lawsuit to proceed against the luxury Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver over allegations it wrongfully terminated 100 employees during the pandemic, says a union that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the workers.

“The court’s decision to allow the lawsuit to proceed as a class-action sends a strong message to hotel employers: misleading your long-term workforce for months before mass firing them could lead to financial consequences,” Zailda Chan, president of Unite Here Local 40, said in a statement.

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“That’s why this development is a positive step forward for nearly 100 terminated workers at the Pan Pacific who deserve much better treatment from their employer.”

The B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit, which was filed in January, noted that the Pan Pacific, like many hotels hit hard by the pandemic, had seen a sharp decline in business and had taken steps to reduce its workforce.

The union claims that the hotel misled regular hourly workers, wrongfully terminating them without cause or notice, and skirted full severance pay owed to workers for their years of service.

It alleges that early in the pandemic, hotel management detailed plans to drastically reduce its staff from 450 workers to 80, and to dismiss the rest. Rather than informing staff about the impending terminations, it sent false messages of hope that they might be re-hired.

The union claims that the hotel began terminating employees in three batches beginning in the spring of 2020 so as to minimize its liability for notice or severance pay under the Employment Standards Act.

Romuel Escobar, who had worked at the Pan Pacific for nearly 25 years and was one of the employees terminated in August 2020, was allegedly paid only eight weeks wages. He is the representative plaintiff in the case.

In the ruling released Monday, Justice Sharon Matthews said that she was certifying the class-action proceeding and appointing Escobar as the representative plaintiff subject to further submissions on the definition of the class.

The judge said that the common issues, which will have to be addressed at a subsequent hearing, include whether the hotel fundamentally changed a term of the class members’ contracts by cancelling their hours due to the impact of COVID-19.

Other issues include whether the hotel intentionally misled the class members about their prospects for ongoing employment, and whether the hotel’s conduct was high-handed, malicious, arbitrary or reprehensible such that punitive damages were warranted.

In February, the union announced that workers at the hotel had voted in favour of and had joined the union, which represents thousands of hotel workers. The union has also launched a human rights complaint against the hotel alleging it fired mostly women of colour during the pandemic.

The hotel, which opposed the certification in court and argued the claims do not disclose causes of action, could not be reached.

kfraser@postmedia.com

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