Employee rights hotline open for Sudbury workers

Any workers in Sudbury who feel they're not being treated fairly by their employer have a place to turn for help.

There have been numerous cases surface across Ontario since the minimum wage increased to $14 an hour on Jan. 1. Some employers have cut back benefits in order to pay the new salary.

The Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre has been around since 2014. The non-profit centre provides guidance to any worker who is having problems or may have questions about labour laws and workers' rights.

"Employees can contact us if they're feeling like their rights haven't been met or if they just have a question about their rights and our workers can help guide them through the problem," Jenny Fortin with the centre said.

"We can give them education and information about their rights and just help to guide them on the processes involved into righting those wrongs."

Fortin says the service is an opportunity to provide education.

"Not all employers are bad people. There's a handful of employers out there who just don't know what your rights are as a worker, and it's a learning curve for them too," she said.

"So we want to give them the opportunity to right the wrong before we bring it to the Ministry of Labour."

Fortin says they haven't seen an increase in calls since the change in minimum wage.

However, she says she thinks calls will increase once workers start to understand their rights better.