It took Toronto translator Cindy Huang one year and more than 50 emails — all in the quest to collect a simple paycheque. And according to court records, she is not the only one claiming they were shortchanged by a Mississauga-based interpreting firm.

The Star profiled Able Translations more than a year ago after workers – often new Canadians trying to make ends meet – complained of slow and erratic payment. Since then, there have been more than 40 small claims court cases against the firm filed at one Brampton court alone for sums totaling almost $300,000, a Star search of court records found.

It’s been a source of simmering frustration for Huang, a mother of one originally from China who came to Canada in search of a better life. By the time she got her paycheque from Able – a year after it was due – she was owed about $8,000.

“I emailed them. I called them. But they never answered,” she said.

The company, which is run by Wilson and Annabelle Teixeira and enjoys lucrative public sector contracts – including with the University Health Network – did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the Star. In several statements of defence contained in small claims court cases, Able said it “disputes all statements and all accounts claimed” by plaintiffs.

In one case filed by a translator, claiming $1,473 in unpaid wages, the company said the plaintiff had provided freelance translation services but their file “was missing essential information” like a non-disclosure agreement and a signed copy of a translation services agreement.”

In another case for unpaid wages worth $18,900 dollars, Able said the translator had failed to attach invoices to their statement of claim, and said the firm could “anticipate discrepancies between the plaintiff’s statements and the information found on the defendant’s records.”

“Able Translations is a reputable company that has provided numerous full-time employment positions as well as income generating freelance opportunities for hundreds of freelance language service providers, like the plaintiff, across the GTA and Canada for more than 20 years,” the company said.

Since 2015, the Star has been contacted by numerous translators who claim they too have struggled to obtain their wages from Able.

Huang says she first started working for Able in September 2015. She has kept dozens of emails to the company starting in April 2016, when she told Able she had yet to receive any pay for her work over that period.

It took two months to get a response from Able’s general enquires account. First, the company said they would pay in a week’s time. Then they said they would pay in August. Then, according to the email chain Huang showed the Star, they went silent.

By January 2017, Huang was still out of pocket.

“Please update the latest payment date asap as five months has passed since your last response,” reads her last email to the company.

“It’s over one year that I haven’t even received my first payment.”

A Star reporter accompanied Huang to the company’s Mississauga base on a chilly Thursday in February. Its office is bedecked with photos of local sports teams sponsored by the firm, and plaques commemorating Able’s donations to community groups. To the left of reception, a sticker says, “Smile, you’re on camera.”

A receptionist said the company only dealt with translators’ pay enquiries on Fridays. After some insistence, an HR administrator told Huang she was in the “queue to be paid” but she “didn’t know when that would be.” The administrator told her that in May of last year, the company mailed a cheque to Huang’s home – listed as being on Steeles Ave. East – but it was never cashed.

Huang lives on Steeles Ave. West. She showed the administrator the first package she had received from Able, which included her contract and a name tag. The address was correct on that envelope.

The administrator subsequently spoke to accounting and obtained Huang’s paycheque immediately.

The pattern appears similar to the complaints made by other translators. Slobodanka Zivkovic sent the Star months’ worth of communication with Able about a paycheque that had apparently been mailed, but never arrived. Although she received some partial payments through electronic transfer, Zivkovic says it took more than a year to get the full pay she was owed – around $2,000.

She says she got her wages after she went to Able’s office and refused to leave until she was paid.

“They treat you like you are nobody,” she said. “They don’t even have the decency to say ‘sorry, we are late, we are working on it, do not worry.’ The money’s not everything – it was the treatment.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Although the Star’s latest requests for comment went unanswered, Annabelle Teixeira said in a 2015 email that the allegations made by former workers were “baseless.”

“We continue to enjoy positive relationships with over 3,500 interpreters,” she said. At the time of the Star’s first story about Able, the company announced on its website it would launch “an immediate 90-day review of current invoicing procedures.”

Able Translations’ clients include public sector organizations such as the University Health Network. Gillian Howard, Vice President of Public Affairs for UHN, said it paid Able about $550,000 for translation services in 2016. The province’s workers compensation board has also used Able translators, paying the company about $61,000 last year, according to WSIB spokesperson Christine Arnott.

“Clearly, our expectation is that people are paid for the services they provide, and we certainly provide Able Translations with the means of paying their employees for the work which is critical to the health of our patients,” said Howard.

“The company blames it on accounting, it blames it on the worker not invoicing correctly, or blames it on the client for not paying them. They’re really shifting the burden of their business responsibilities right onto workers,” said Mary Gellatly of Parkdale Community Legal Services, which has assisted about five Able translators to go after their unpaid wages.

“Emotionally it hits workers hard both because of the lack of dignity and respect,” she added.

Because Able translators are deemed independent contractors not employees, they currently have no protection under the province’s employment standards legislation. Their only recourse for justice is to pay out of their own pocket to launch a small claims court case.

The government’s Changing Workplaces Review, whose recommendations are expected to be made public in the coming months, is examining ways to tackle precarious work. It’s a process Labour minister Kevin Flynn has called a “complex and important task” to ensure “Ontario can remain a place where workers feel safe and protected and businesses can reach their full potential.”

Workers’ rights groups have suggested the definition of employee be expanded to include low-wage independent contractors, which would entitle them to protection under existing employment laws.

Last year, the Ministry of Labour received 38 employment standards complaints against Able Translations, but 14 were denied or withdrawn because the workers were contractors and therefore unable to make claims. Ten were withdrawn because the translators were voluntarily paid by Able or the workers decided to pursue a small claims case instead. A further 10 are still being processed or investigated. In four cases – where the claimants were deemed to be employees – Able was ordered by the ministry to pay.

That is little comfort for translators like Zivkovic, who feel they did the heavy lifting to get their wages alone.

“I really can’t believe it’s happening in Canada in the 21st century just because we are not employees,” she said.

“We worked, there is no question about it. So how can they get away with it?”