The owners of a hotel chain who are appealing orders to pay more than $100,000 in owed wages to three foreign workers say they weren’t even aware two of the workers were employed at one of the company’s Manitoba hotels.

That’s the argument put forward by Western Star in a Manitoba Labour Board hearing last week, as the company appealed orders issued in November 2024 by Manitoba Employment Standards.

“I think we can all agree the hotel in Melita was mismanaged,” said Irwin Brar, speaking on behalf of the Saskatchewan-based Western Star at the appeal hearing last Friday.

Last week, the Manitoba Labour Board appeal panel heard from various current and former Western Star employees, including the three people owed wages. 

“My intention is not just to receive the money I’m owed,” Montserrat Del Toro, one of the migrant workers owed money, said in Spanish, according to a translator at the hearing. Rather, she said she hoped “the situation can help others not have to go through this.”

Del Toro and Victor Padilla Ruiz are owed unpaid overtime, general holidays and vacation wages from a period in 2023-24 for their work at a hotel in Melita, Man., according to the 2024 Employment Standards order. The two were not eligible to work in Canada.

A third worker, Rajbinder Mathias, is also owed money from the employer, according to a separate order issued on the same day in 2024.

Both Irwin Brar — who spoke on behalf of Western Star at the hearing — and Harpinder Brar waived their right to testify. Irwin, however, questioned witnesses and presented a closing argument. 

Saskatchewan land registry searches show several corporate entities own Western Star properties in that province. Most were registered in Alberta and had Harpinder and Irwin Brar listed as directors.

Irwin Brar said in an email to CBC last year he has had “no involvement” in the operations of the hotel chain since 2019.

Harpinder Brar said she assumed the role of director after her husband died. In labour board documents, she said she did not have any involvement in the operations or management of the hotel. 

Weren’t hotel employees: director

Harpinder Brar, whom company records identify as the director of Western Star’s Melita location, argued in a labour board document that Padilla Ruiz and Del Toro weren’t employees of the hotel. She said Padilla Ruiz “helped out from time to time” in exchange for lodging, and “his friend” just lived at the hotel without authorization, according to the Employment Standards order issued in 2024.

Documents submitted to the Manitoba Labour Board by the employer show an accommodation agreement for Padilla Ruiz, as well as an employment agreement — though neither document was signed by him.

Irwin Brar gave a conflicting account during closing arguments at last week’s hearing.

He said he wasn’t aware Padilla Ruiz and Del Toro worked for Western Star, but “we later found out that they were working at Melita.”

He said Western Star ownership learned after submitting their appeal about a contract that Padilla Ruiz had with the operations manager of the hotel, who was overseeing multiple different Western Star hotels.

The contract was to work as a chef for $3,000 a month at the location in Melita, a small town about 300 kilometres west of Winnipeg, he said during his closing argument. 

However, one of the labour board panel members said in the hearing they couldn’t accept new evidence during closing statements.

12-hour days, 7 days per week

Devin Johnston, counsel to the director of Manitoba Employment Standards, pointed out that Western Star representatives did not challenge Padilla Ruiz and Del Toro about whether they actually worked at the Melita location. 

During closing arguments, Johnston also said the only ground for appeal “seriously advanced” by Western Star was the argument Padilla Ruiz and Del Toro didn’t work the number of hours shown in the Employment Standards order. 

That order suggested Padilla Ruiz worked an average of 12 hours per day, seven days a week for months, and Del Toro regularly worked over 40 hours per week.

One of Western Star’s witnesses, Komalpreet Kaur, who is a permanent resident, testified that she worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week at the Melita hotel, and only submitted 40 hours each week. 

In her testimony, she said nobody from management told her to submit 40 hours each week, but that she was satisfied with the arrangement because it wasn’t a very busy hotel. That meant she often had time to do other things while working, as well as take time off for trips, and lived at the hotel for free, she testified.

Workers at the hotel “were basically all doing everything, shared duties, and covered each other when needed,” Kaur said. 

Padilla Ruiz said he was hired to be a cook but also did other tasks. Two former hotel workers called to testify also acknowledged during the hearing that he did a variety of tasks, including attending to the front desk, making bank deposits and operating the beer vendor.

However, Padilla Ruiz’s labour market impact assessment — a document an employer often needs before hiring a foreign worker — listed him as a “housekeeping attendant” at a different Western Star hotel in Esterhazy, Sask. 

Padilla Ruiz moved to work at Western Star’s Melita location in 2023, about a year after he came to Canada.

He testified that while working in Melita, he was on call 24/7.

WhatsApp messages submitted to the panel between him and Amrinder Gill, Western Star’s payroll manager, showed he was also helping book reservations and co-ordinate payments for the housekeepers. 

Both Padilla Ruiz and Del Toro said they recorded their own hours because they felt the company wasn’t keeping track of them.

The timesheets for Padilla Ruiz listed Amrinder Gill as the manager, though Gill said in his testimony he did not sign them.

Gill testified he would receive summaries from the hotel’s operations manager, Twyla Bauman, which included the employee’s name and number of hours worked each week.

Illegal work arrangements: lawyer

However, neither those summaries nor any other payroll records for Padilla Ruiz and Del Toro were submitted as evidence, Johnston said in his closing argument, though he acknowledged Western Star did produce pay stubs for Mathias, the other worker owed wages.

During his closing argument, Irwin Brar said Western Star’s owners wouldn’t have been aware of these records because they didn’t know Padilla Ruiz and Del Toro were working at the hotel.

Johnston also noted the company was fined for failing to produce records relating to hours of work and employee pay statements for employees at the Melita location. 

Provincial legislation requires employers to maintain and keep records for a minimum period of three years. 

“Western Star intentionally failed to record accurate payrolls, hours of work and the location of these workers,” said Johnston.

“Western Star did this because they knew these work arrangements were illegal, and were trying to conceal this information from federal and provincial governments.”

Irwin Brar denied that in his closing statement, saying Western Star’s owners “were unaware of any wrongdoing,” and alleged Padilla Ruiz had “independently hired and paid workers without authorization.”

He also said that there was no evidence the three workers complained about not receiving payments while they were employed.

Various documents — including Padilla Ruiz’s employment contract and labour market impact assessment, as well as the third person’s employment contract — list Gill, the payroll manager, as the “employer.” However, Gill said in his testimony he didn’t sign those documents, nor does he have the “authority to issue contracts.”

WATCH | Foreign workers accuse hotelier of taking advantage of them:

Mexican man says hotel chain exploited him while he was working in Melita, Man.

A man from Mexico says he toiled long hours, seven days a week, for nearly a year without proper pay for a hotel chain that he says took advantage of him and others.

During his closing argument, Irwin Brar said that Padilla Ruiz’s employment contract, which was not signed by Western Star, was not provided to Padilla Ruiz by the company. Rather, it had been given to him by Padilla Ruiz’s “own immigration consultant.” 

During his testimony, Padilla Ruiz said the contract was sent to him by a person named Gurwinder, likely referring to Gurwinder Ahluwalia. 

Padilla Ruiz and another Western Star employee previously told CBC that the hotel chain had put them in touch with Ahluwalia, who was to handle their immigration applications.

Ahluwalia is currently serving a two-year sentence on house arrest after he pleaded guilty to unauthorized employment of foreign nationals at a construction site in Winnipeg. 

Ahluwalia’s home was raided by the Canadian Border Services Agency in May 2025. Padilla Ruiz previously told CBC he was told four days later, on May 10, to stop working.

At one point in the hearing, Irwin Brar referred to Alhuwalia as Padilla Ruiz’s immigration lawyer.

“He’s not my immigration lawyer,” Padilla Ruiz responded. “He’s your immigration lawyer.”

In his closing argument, Johnston noted Ahluwalia was not called to testify.

The appeal board also didn’t hear testimony from Bauman, the operations manager who oversaw several hotels. She still works for Western Star All Suites, according to multiple testimonies, and was in frequent contact with the employees working at the Melita hotel, according to evidence presented to the panel. 

An accountant who Gill said was in possession of all payroll records, including the amount the company paid out in cash and cheques during his testimony, also did not testify. 

The Labour Board now has 90 days from the end of the hearing to make a decision on the appeal.