ICMS Reviews

We appreciate receiving both positive and negative feedback. We also recognize that not all employee-employer relationships end positively. We appreciate the opportunity to present the employer’s view of the situations raised. “Employees being owed thousands of dollars in expenses…..” Response: At the location that this employee worked during the last 12 months, staff expense accounts have been zeroed out at the end of each month and employees reimbursed for approved expenses. During this time, individual expense accounts have been well below $1000 and typically between $50 to $500/month per employee. During this 12-month period, the Regional Manager and regional bookkeeper have worked hard to setup accounts with vendors so staff will not have to incur business expenses. If a staff member does need to incur a business expense, they are reminded to get approval from the Regional Manager prior to doing so as per company policy. “An employee going 9 months and 14 straight emails……” Response: During the 9 month period stated, the employee was in weekly contact with the Regional Manager about the payroll discrepancy and the Regional Manager was working with Accounting and Head Office Management to get the issue resolved. The $1000 balance discrepancy was resolved prior to the posting of this review. “3 employees that quit in the same month….” Response: According to the B.C. Labour Act; “An employer must pay all wages owing to an employee within 6 days after the employee terminates the employment”. ICMS may require the full six days to review final timesheets and complete the last payroll transaction. “Countless instances where accounting didn’t send checks…….” Response: The B.C Labour Act states that “At least semimonthly and within 8 days after the end of the pay period, an employer must pay to an employee all wages earned by the employee in a pay period”. ICMS has two pay periods/month as required by the B.C. Labour Act. If the end of the pay period lands on a weekend, as a privilege to the employees, ICMS will often make the payroll deposit in advance on the preceding Friday. However, there are instances where payroll is deposited on the weekend, which may lead to the confusion. The Act states that employers have up to 8 days after the pay period to make the payroll deposit. We acknowledge that calculation errors have been made in the past. The company is making changes to streamline payroll and eliminate errors. “CRA threatened to drain an employees bank account….” Response: The employee’s information was entered within the T4 correctly. When the T4 was uploaded to the CRA website, the CRA experienced difficulty retrieving the uploaded information. Management worked with the employee and an accounting firm to correct the situation. “An employee was told they would get a raise…..” Response: The employee received a wage increase in June. Between getting paperwork completed and entered into the accounting system, there was a delay in implementing the new salary. The employee began receiving the new salary in early fall, as well received the difference in back salary. “I’ve seen other employees being promised raises….” Response: After conducting interviews, the hiring team met with the Regional Manager to discuss candidates for the vacancies. Candidates were identified and a discussion of salary occurred. Final employment offers were based on candidate qualifications compared to peer positions. “Verbal contracts mean nothing here.” Response: ICMS utilizes written contracts with its employees to establish the conditions of employment and documentation of wage increases. Verbal contracts can be mis-interpreted by the parties. “An employee put in his 4 weeks notice….” Response: The employee had vacation time owing. Under the BC Labour Act, “Employees must take time off for annual vacation”. The Act also allows the employer to schedule paid time off for the employee to take unused vacation time. “Many instances where casual laborers…..” Response: Casual employees to help with jobs such as weeding or harvest are given paper timesheets to record their daily hours and are then required to give them to the supervising ICMS staffer, who then submits it to the Regional Manager and Bookkeeper to be processed. When received in a timely manner, it is processed and paid within the timeframe allowed in the BC Labour Act. The Regional Manager pays the casual employees by e-transfer for expense documentation. There are definitely records of time worked. At no time are “the owners” involved in the process of paying casual employees working in the B.C. region (the region the reviewer was employed in). “Paystubs started (kinda) in 2019….” Response: ICMS recognizes that the Administration department experiences difficulty with issuing paystubs to employees. It is working on a solution to rectify this problem.