Long story short: I’m a teacher at a private school. The school tried not paying me and contesting my online hours (we are already grossly underpaid, btw), then they misclassified me as an independent contractor instead of an employee so that i am not covered by employment laws and so they can avoid taxes.
I went after them in every way possible, from making claims with the federal government to the provincial government. I threatened to hit their wallet. As someone who can’t afford a lawyer, I used every free resource available to me. All the meanwhile I was still working for them, while not getting paid, because i was advised to continue working if I wanted to have this fight.
After two months of struggle and them financially draining me, I finally got the call. They gave me my money and correctly classified me, and told me July 18 will be my last day of work- and basically told me to leave them the fuck alone.
This is a big company in Canada who own several colleges and have good legal counsel. And i, the poverty-income teacher, won this small battle.
Don’t give up hope, comrades.