A B.C. accountant who resigned from the accounting firm he worked at was ordered to pay his former employer thousands after accruing a negative vacation balance.
JA LLP, an accounting firm based in Surrey, said that one of its employees, MB, took a three-month study leave. Before MB took his leave, JA agreed to advance him paid vacation hours so that he could keep earning some salary while away from work.
JA told the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal there was an understanding that MB would either work his way out of the negative balance or pay JA back if he resigned with a negative balance.
MB took his leave in the summer of 2023. Shortly after returning from leave in November 2023, MB resigned with a negative balance. A partner representing the accounting firm told the tribunal that MB allowed it to deduct part of the negative and outstanding balance from his final paychecks, but that he failed to pay the remainder of the balance.
MB filed a counterclaim and denied owing the outstanding balance. He told the tribunal that the parties never agreed that he’d have to pay the balance if he resigned. In the counterclaim, he alleges that JA wasn’t authorized to withhold his final paycheck and that he allowed deductions under duress in a good-faith attempt to resolve the matter.
He claimed $3,511 in withheld wages.
MB began working at JA as a staff accountant in 2021. His study leave was in 2023 between July 1 and Oct. 2. MB had not accrued enough vacation time to be paid throughout his leave and requested to go into a negative vacation balance to keep earning salary.
JA told the tribunal it didn’t typically pay a salary to employees who were on study leave, but made an exception for MB. After pointing out what his negative balances would be once he returned, both parties settled on MB receiving 50 per cent pay while on leave.
MB gave JA two weeks’ notice on Oct. 23. According to the tribunal decision, that day, one of JA’s partners reminded MB that he’d have to repay the negative balance, and MB agreed to allow a deduction from his last two paychecks. However, he said he wouldn’t pay the remaining balance because it would put him in “extenuating or tough financial circumstances.”
While the tribunal agreed that MB didn’t formally agree to pay JA for the debt, it added that it didn’t absolve him of the obligation.
In one exchange between MB and the firm, MB said that he understood he’d need to repay or work off the negative balance when he got back to work and that he would be working a lot of overtime to repay it.
The tribunal found that MB’s comments upon resigning show that he knew he’d agreed to pay JA back.
Ultimately, the tribunal found that the two parties had a binding contract for MB to repay the debt upon resignation.
MB was ordered to pay the B.C. accounting firm $5,269.67, which included the vacation balance and tribunal fees. The tribunal dismissed MB’s counterclaim.