Two former employees of a Domino's franchise in North Vancouver, B.C. claim their bosses assaulted them and withheld pay for several weeks.

While none of the allegations have been proven in court, the pair have filed complaints with the Employment Standards Branch of B.C. and the police are now investigating if an assault occurred on Feb. 6 at the pizza joint.

Blake Dearman, 21, and Dakota Gervais-Brulhart, 18, allege the operators of the Domino's franchise at 151 West 3 Street have not paid them properly for months and that they were bullied and physically slapped when they demanded they get paid.

Gervais-Brulhart​ said he's still owed more than $1,500 in past wages and claims he sometimes went as long as four weeks without getting a paycheque.

"They'd just flat out lie and say pay day is next week. You'd say 'pay day is today and I've been keeping track of it. I haven't been paid in two weeks' and they'd say 'it's next week,'" said Gervais-Brulhart.

'It felt like slavery'

Dearman and Gervais-Brulhart said they've also never received a pay stub since starting work at the pizza joint in the fall.

"It felt like slavery, I'm gonna be honest,"Gervais-Brulhart​ said.

Last Friday the two coworkers said they confronted their bosses and refused to work on their scheduled shifts until they were paid.

That's when they say things turned violent.

"He [one of the operators] grabbed me by the sleeve and pulled me to the hallway and slapped him [Dearman] in the face, backhanded him, then he kicked me in the back," said Gervais-Brulhart.

The two say they have been afraid for their safety since the alleged altercation.

"They're yelling ... we don't know who we're messing with," said Gervais-Brulhart.

Two former employees allege they were abused by the franchise owner of this Domino's in North Vancouver. (CBC News)

Gervais-Brulhart had been working at Domino's since October.

Dearman has also filed a complaint with the Employment Standards Branch and with the Workers Compensation Board. He said he was an assistant manager at the Domino's since September 2014.

"I've had some pretty bad bosses but I've never in my life expected something like that would happen," Dearman said.

Gervais-Brulhart said that the employees also had to borrow money from the franchise operators to pay for their lunches, because they hadn't been paid.

"So we'd all have like $50 worth of food to owe them when they haven't paid us. It was insane," he said.

In his complaint, the 18-year-old accused the owners of the pizza joint of not following B.C. employment standards.

In addition to not issuing pay stubs, Brulhart claims there were no meal breaks, even on shifts of more than eight hours.

The complaint also suggests the owners took money from the tip jar, instead of distributing it among employees.

Brulhart’s complaint goes on to allege that employees were penalized for mistakes by having their pay docked.

He says "employee's wages [were] deducted for mistakes in orders (pay for any pizzas that were incorrect or for prank phone orders), dropped onions[, etc]."

The complaint also alleges the owners bullied employees with name calling and intimidation.

The pair say they were fired when they confronted their bosses about their wages on Feb. 6.

RCMP investigation ongoing

North Vancouver RCMP confirm they are investigating if an assault took place last Friday at Domino's, but say it's too early to determine whether charges will be laid.

CBC News repeatedly tried to reach out to the operators of the franchise, but they declined to comment. Domino's Canada said the franchise operators have told head office that the allegations are false.

Domino's said it isn't aware of any complaints against these franchise operators in the past. However, CBC News has learned there has been one previous complaint with the Employment Standards Branch at that location which was subsequently resolved.

The head office said it's taking the matter very seriously and has now launched an internal investigation.

Noting these were only allegations, Jeff Kacmarek, vice-president of Domino's marketing and product development, said "quite honestly, it turned my stomach. This is not the way we run our business."

"It's a global brand, nearly 400 stores located across the country, thousands of franchisees."

The company is scheduled to meet with the franchise operators Friday morning and said it is also reaching out to the former employees.

The B.C. Federation of Labour said if the allegations are proven, Domino's Canada needs to take immediate action.

"This is a franchise situation, so if the allegations are true, the parent company should take away the franchise," said Irene Lanzinger, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour.

"Unfortunately we see this numerous times that workers are exploited and they have nowhere to go," she said.

Do you have anything to share on this story? Reach out to the reporter bal.brach@cbc.ca.