Jon Ozols was trying to make ends meet when he took a job at Café St. Germain.

It was 2012 and Ozols, then 26, was excited about returning to Canada to work in the food industry after three years in Germany bartending and working in restaurants.

But a few months later he had been fired and was filing a claim for $878.96 in unpaid wages. He said Café St. Germain owner Tatiana “Tia” Popovski, who sometimes uses the last name Pirkov, owed him the money.

Popovski did not respond to repeated requests for comment the Star left by email, on Facebook and at a phone number with a voicemail message identifying the number as hers.

It’s been two years since the ministry announced that Ozols won his claim against her, but he has yet to see any of the cash.

Ozols said a ministry worker told him that was because Popovski, operating under the business name Sol Café Inc., has yet to issue a cheque even after she was slapped with an order to pay that came with a May 2013 deadline.

Ministry spokesperson William Lin would not confirm whether that was true, but he did say the ministry “has had nine claims filed against the company in the last three years.” He said the claims, all about unpaid wages and vacation pay, resulted in orders to pay, which are “being actively pursued, or are in the process of being sent to the Ministry of Finance for collection.”

A recent Star story revealed that 63 per cent of all orders to pay issued to employers by the ministry last year went uncollected.

It’s frustrated Ozols, who feels attempts to recover what he is owed at this point are “hopeless.”

“It is one of those things that you still hold out for, but you are kind of thinking you may never see,” he said.

The ministry found Ozols was being paid $9.50 — the student minimum wage — even though he was no longer a student. Most of those payments came in cash or by personal cheque, said Ozols, who described the circumstances under which he was let go in October 2012 as messy.

Around that time, Ozols said he had asked for time off to spend the weekend at a cottage with his girlfriend. Popovski, he said, allowed him the vacation, but while he was away Ozols said she removed him from the next week’s work schedule and sent him a termination email.

That message, seen by the Star, accused Ozols of having “lousy work ethics” and of being late seven times. He says he was late so often because Popovski had to let him into the Avenue Rd. café every morning and she was often late to do so.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Popovski also said in the termination letter, before accusing Ozols of recruiting others to damage her business and ordering him to “never ever get in touch with me or anyone in my company. EVER.”

She threatened legal action, Ozols said, but it and the money she owed him never appeared.

“I couldn’t pay rent. I had to borrow from people,” Ozols recalled. “That was pretty messed up.”

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He’s now given up on the thought of getting the money, but he said he’s sharing his story as a warning to others.

“This can happen to anyone,” he said. “People need to stand up for their rights.”