An Ottawa man who worked as a busboy at Dunn's Famous Deli on Elgin Street is accusing his former employer of failing to pay wages on time.

"I got these paycheques that were meaningless. They kept bouncing ... so I was basically just free labour," said Patrick McManus, 21, who started working at the restaurant in mid-February.

I was basically just free labour. - Patrick McManus, former busboy

After his first bounced paycheque at the end of March, McManus talked to a co-worker who told him other workers had also been having pay problems, but advised him not to confront management about it because it would probably go poorly.

"I just sort of kept quiet for a little bit," McManus said.

On April 13, fearing he'd be hit again with non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees for a second bounced cheque, he took that day's paycheque to RBC — the restaurant's bank — to ask for it to be certified. When the bank declined to do so, he decided to confront his boss.

McManus said he approached the restaurant's owner on April 20 with his two pay stubs and explained he needed the money for rent and groceries. He was promised payment on April 23rd, he said, but when he arrived at the restaurant to collect, the owner was angry.

"He was very offended that I was asking him for it," McManus said. "I was essentially kicked out of the restaurant, and he said I'd have it the following day."

On April 24, McManus said he received word from the restaurant that he could safely deposit his April 13 cheque and did so successfully. But that same day, after collecting a replacement March 30th paycheque which RBC again refused to certify, he said he returned to the restaurant and quit.

Patrick McManus, a former employee of Dunn's Famous Deli on Elgin Street, said he quit his job after the restaurant bounced a paycheque and its owner reacted angrily to his request for payment. The Dunn's restaurant on Elgin operates independently of other Dunn's restaurants in Ottawa. 0:37

Employment standards violations

There are three other Dunn's locations in Ottawa, but those businesses are independently owned and operated, according to owner Moishe Smith at Dunn's Famous on Merivale Road. Those other businesses are licensed to use the Dunn's logo and to sell the company's products, but have no other corporate connection with the Dunn's deli on Elgin, Smith said.

The Elgin Street Dunn's also operates independently of the chain of Dunn's restaurants with a corporate headquarters in Montreal, which has the same logo. According to that company's website, the original Dunn's deli opened in Montreal in 1927. It now has several locations in Quebec, as well as one in Vancouver and another in Saint Isidore, Ont.

McManus said other employees of the Elgin Street Dunn's have shared with him similar stories of missing wages that go back to February.

CBC was unable to confirm other accounts, but a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Labour said since January 2017, the Dunn's restaurant on Elgin has had three claims filed against it for employment standards violations, all of them made in April of this year. McManus said he is among those who complained.

The ministry could not confirm whether the claims were for unpaid wages because they have not yet been assigned to an employment standards officer for investigation. There are no outstanding compliance orders against the restaurant, according to the ministry.

'We are an ally, not the enemy'

Management at Dunn's Famous Deli on Elgin refused an interview but told CBC in a statement Friday that "in the current climate of living wages and workers rights, we are an ally, not the enemy."

"Regretfully, this former employee had an experience not typical of our business," said the statement, referring to McManus. "The financial situation has been rectified and the employee paid in full as of 2:00 today."

McManus estimated he was owed approximately $1,700 between the problematic March 30 replacement paycheque and remaining wages for April.

Because he's not paid by direct deposit, he said he wouldn't know if he was truly even with the restaurant until he got his remaining cheques certified. On Monday, he said the restaurant's bank had declined again to certify one of his outstanding cheques, and he had not received his last paycheque at all.

In an email following the company's official statement, restaurant manager Jennifer Fisher told CBC the restaurant had seen "a significant dip in sales in the last two months" and had been cutting hours as part of the effort to "make the best of a bad situation." She also said staff members with paycheque issues had been offered "alternatives to be paid" but some had refused and insisted on cheques, a choice the company respected. The e-mail did not specify what alternatives had been offered.

Fisher declined to comment on the claims made to the Ministry of Labour, saying the restaurant was not previously aware they'd been filed and had received no correspondence from the ministry.

Many workers too patient: lawyer

One might imagine that a worker missing wages would quickly leave his or her job — as McManus did — but frequently, workers give their employers a lot of second chances, said Ottawa employment lawyer Sean Bawden.

Often, by the time I get contacted, it's not the first paycheque that's been missed, it's several. - Sean Bawden, employment lawyer

"Often, by the time I get contacted, it's not the first paycheque that's been missed, it's several," Bawden said. "And usually the employee is, surprisingly, months down the road of not being paid."

As time elapses, the amount of money owed increases, and it can become more and more risky to assume the employer will eventually cover the entire shortfall, he said.

Bawden recommends a worker who has missed wages raise the matter with his or her employer right away, and come up with a deadline to have the pay issue resolved. If the deadline isn't met, the worker should quit.

"We all have bills to pay, and very few of those parties are going to accept the position of, 'My employer hasn't paid me, but they say they're going to do it soon,'" Bawden said.

To collect the lost wages, filing a claim with the Ministry of Labour's Employment Standards Office is frequently the best approach, Bawden said, because suing the employer in court can often cost more than the missing income — though some workers end up in court anyway, to get a ministry order enforced.