BY CRAIG GILBERT
A former employee of a New Sudbury call centre says she was grabbed and shoved out of the office by her former boss Thursday after trying to get payment she has been owed for over a month.
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Â?I have bruises,Â? Angie James said, her voice shaking. Â?I called the police at 6 pm last night.Â?
A Greater Sudbury Police Staff Sergeant confirmed a complaint was received from James at 5:53 pm Thursday.
DCS Teleservices boss Lother Hajek has neglected to return repeated phone calls from Northern Life over the past several weeks.
James said the working conditions at DCS Teleservices, located in a former bingo hall off Lasalle Boulevard, were so revolting she quit after two and a half days on the job in early February.
She has been trying to get her pay ever since.
She said she was told on Feb. 5 her cheque and Record of Employment (ROE) were in the mail.
Still waiting as of last Monday on March 1, James said she made the latest in a series of attempts to get a cheque for the money owed to her by Hajek. Over the phone, his receptionist told if she called or came by the office again, she would be charged with harassment.
James said she ran into Lother later in the day in the cityÂ?s West End.
Â?He said Â?IÂ?m not responsible for the post office.Â? IÂ?ve received mail from Sault. Ste. Marie in two days, thereÂ?s no way itÂ?s the post office (causing the delay).Â?
James said he told her if the cheque hadnÂ?t arrived by Thursday, to come by the office so he could pay her in cash.
When she got there, the single mother of two says she was grabbed by the arms and forced out of the office.
James and another former employee said Lother pays his employees cash because he has trouble with the banks, and isnÂ?t allowed to use direct deposits.
The second former employee, who wished not to be named, got pay she was owed, but had to sign over a cheque to Lother and take it in cash.
James said it only took her two days to decide to leave because she had a feeling of skepticism from the moment she walked through the door at the call centre.
Contrary to the listing in the governmentÂ?s job bank, which indicated the rate of pay would be $10 per hour, she was told she would be making only $8.
She and others witnessed a fight break out on the 24-seat work floor.
James worked with Hajek at another call centre, which she claims he was fired from. She said they donÂ?t get along.
She is planning to go back to school through an Employment Insurance program.
Without her ROE, she canÂ?t apply, and without the $200 or so she is owed in pay, it is getting harder and harder to pay the bills, she insists.
She has filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour, but resolution along that channel could take months.
Another former employee who wished to remain nameless also had some difficulty in getting paid.
She quit the same time James did.
She got the money owed her, but in cash, not through any registered means.
As to why she got paid and James still hasnÂ?t, she said simply Â?you attract more bees with honey than vinegar.Â?
She said James has taken a harder-nosed approach to getting whatÂ?s owed her.
