The provincial labour ministry has charged a twice-bankrupt businessman for failing to pay more than $60,000 in unpaid wages to student lifeguards.
Peter Check, a 62-year-old bespectacled Acton man, was charged Thursday under the Employment Standards Act with six counts of failing to comply with orders to pay 68 former teenaged members a total of $63,527.91 in unpaid wages from 2007 and 2008.
Last June, a Star investigation found Check had been withholding wages to students for years, changing the name of his pool-supply company each summer and leaving a trail of lifeguards (aged 16-22) owed thousands of dollars. At the time, the ministry had issued a series of orders to pay students, but never laid charges.
Recently, the Star reported on the ministry’s unsuccessful attempts to retrieve money from Check. After two years, the ministry was able to extract only four cents of every unpaid dollar, about $3277.88.
A government official tipped the Star last week that charges were finally being laid after Check again failed to comply with three separate orders that he pay the staff of his pool company when it was going by the name Aquatic Pool Solutions and All Pool Solutions.
Still out more than $60,000, Check’s former employees say they are pleased by the ministry’s decision to press charges but aren’t holding out hope that they’ll ever see their money.
“It’s about time, I’ve been waiting to here about this for two years now,” says Jessica Machado, 19.
“I’m still hoping to get my money, but I don’t know.”
Machado worked for Check during the summer of 2008. During that summer she said she did a good job for his company. On one occasion, she fished a struggling 11-year-old boy out of the deep end of a pool.
“Check hired me to keep people safe at pools and then didn’t pay me,” she says.
She filed a claim with the ministry of labour for $562.07. She has only recouped $24.63 of that.
Before Machado was involved, other students had similar experiences. The Star found the ministry had previously issued 12 orders for outstanding wages. There are also new orders for unpaid wages from another group of students after Machado. Those students worked for the latest incarnation of his company, Pools Anatomy Inc.
Check could not be reached for comment Friday.
He did speak to the Star last year during a brief interview in the parking lot of a Mississauga auto-parts shop. When asked why the lifeguards hadn’t been paid, Check replied: “It’s being looked after.”
To collect money from Check, the ministry has tried to find assets in his name. The Star’s own search turned up only a 2001 Ford F250 pickup truck. Five other cars seen parked in his driveway are registered to his wife.
Even the Timberlea Blvd. property where Check’s pool business operated for 20 years was listed in his wife’s name.
Check’s Acton home was put up for sale last month with an asking price of $749,500. It is currently on the market for $699,900. However, the house — a four bedroom home with detached garage, outdoor pool, and two hectares of land in Acton is registered in his wife’s name.
“If the house isn’t in his name it’s unlikely that we’re going to see any money from that sale,” says Bruce Skeaff, spokesperson for the ministry.
The employment standards act provides a range of penalties, including jail time and fines if a person is convicted.
Check is to appear in a Brampton court June 8, 2010.
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