More Scrubbi cleaning contractors come forward with allegations of missing pay

Jane Cheng is proud of the work she does, cleaning homes as a contractor for Scrubbi, a Vancouver-based cleaning service that connects cleaning contractors with clients.

But for more than a month, she has been missing a pay cheque of more than $1,500 for work she did in mid-February.

“I think I'm a valuable worker for Scrubbi because I always get five-star reviews and lots of clients love me and they only request me back again and again. So that's why I don't understand why I didn't get paid,” Cheng said.

On Tuesday, CTV News Vancouver published a story about three former Scrubbi contractors who didn’t get paid on time.

When Cheng saw the story, it made her realize that she wasn’t the only one.

She and several others sent emails and messages to CTV News Vancouver, outlining their plight with Scrubbi.

CTV News asked Scrubbi about the additional allegations, noting more workers were coming forward and saying they were not paid for their work on time and that their inquiries about missing pay were ignored. being ignored.

A company spokesperson said Scrubbi will not be providing the additional comment, saying all payment issues can be attributed to the same source and pointing CTV News back to a previous statement.

"Scrubbi recently transitioned to using a third-party vendor to process payment to its contractors and vendors," that stement said.

"During the transition period, some payments did not process properly, which affected a small minority of contractors and vendors. To resolve any outstanding payment issues, Scrubbi encourages the contractors and vendors to reach out directly to Scrubbi."

Sylva Fuller, a UBC professor of sociology, said it is no coincidence that several of the Scrubbi contractors missing pay are racialized women or new immigrants.

Fuller said this demographic is especially vulnerable since they face barriers getting into the Canadian labour market because they are missing credentials or have credentials that aren’t recognized in Canada. Thus, they look for low-barrier jobs.

“Employers are not ignorant about the circumstances of their workforce. They know when workers are vulnerable. They know when workers have fewer resources at their disposal to enforce their rights, and that makes a difference to how they treat their workers,” she said.

In this case, the workers are even more vulnerable because they are considered contractors and do not have the collective power of a union or have the opportunity to find recourse through the Employment Standards branch.

“The law sees you as just another business in a conflict with another business and that you can go to the courts for resolution. Well, obviously, there's a huge power imbalance there: you have a national company on the one hand, you have a vulnerable worker on the other hand, who has limited economic resources. So, it's very difficult for them to enforce their rights,” Fuller said.

She said the country’s employment standards legislation needs to be modernized to better protect contractors.

Since CTV published the story Tuesday, the former contractors who spoke out received their pay later that day.

As for Cheng, she is holding out hope that she will see her missing pay cheque.