Lawyers say Air Canada could have to pay more than $100 million in compensation to workers who lost their jobs at maintenance centres over a decade ago. An Air Canada jet taxis at the airport in Vancouver on Wednesday, Nov.15, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
MONTREAL – Lawyers say Air Canada could have to pay more than $100 million in compensation to workers who lost their jobs at maintenance centres more than a decade ago.
A 2022 ruling in Quebec Superior Court found the airline violated federal law by failing to keep three centres operational when Aveos – the contractor that ran them – shut down in 2012.
Air Canada has filed an appeal, which has not yet been heard.
This week, the judge decided on a formula to calculate lost wages and other damages for the 2,200 former employees of the shuttered plants, located in Montreal, Winnipeg and Mississauga, Ont.
Elodie Drolet-French, a lawyer representing the workers in their class action, says the compensation will likely top $100 million – at least $45,400 per employee – though she qualifies that the total is tough to gauge.
Air Canada spokesman Christophe Hennebelle calls the projections “pure speculation,” noting that the calculation method did not name a final compensation amount.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2024.
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