MONTREAL — BRP Inc. said it disagrees with findings from Quebec’s workplace health and safety board that the snowmobile maker broke the law in underpaying workers it brought in to work at its plant in Quebec from a facility in Mexico.
The company acknowledged the board — known as the CNESST — found what it deemed 76 "objectively serious ... offences" that breach the province’s labour standards act following an investigation, but said they were inaccurate.
"BRP disagrees with these statements of offence and we will contest them," BRP spokeswoman Mélanie Montplaisir said in an emailed statement.
"We are convinced that we have paid our Mexican expatriate employees here in Quebec fairly and equitably when they came to help our Valcourt employees. We have treated them with respect and dignity, as we do our 23,000 employees worldwide."
The manufacturer behind Sea-Doos and Ski-Doos noted the incidents in question pertain to alleged payment shortfalls around overtime and minimum wage for 25 employees between December 2021 and November of last year.
Montplaisir said the company made "certain administrative mistakes related to the processing of payroll between the Mexican and Canadian systems," particularly around overtime. She adds that those workers will be paid the amounts due.
"Our opinion and that of the CNESST differ with regard to the structure and methodology of our compensation model," she added.
The health and safety board is demanding $127,000 in penalties from the Quebec company, which earned profits of $865.4 million in its fiscal year ended Jan. 31.
The provincial board declined to comment on the matter, citing "ongoing procedures."
In February, Radio-Canada reported that some of the 200-odd Mexican workers who came to temporarily work in BRP's home base in Valcourt, Que., from factories in Querétaro and Juárez faced unorthodox conditions.
The arrangement included fees to cover expenses such as food, shelter, transportation and "entertainment" activities, according to the news agency. BRP also withheld hundreds of dollars per week from individual employees and failed to pay a mandatory 50 per cent wage hike for overtime, depriving the foreign workers of roughly $1 million in total, according to the Radio-Canada report.
Remuneration for withheld overtime will be paid, according to BRP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2023.
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
