The Canadian Press

An Ontario court has granted class-action status to a lawsuit against Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) over unpaid overtime in one of the largest employment-related class actions ever undertaken in Canada.

Cindy Fulawka, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the bank, will represent about 5,000 people who were employed as personal or senior bankers, financial advisers and small-business account managers since Jan. 1, 2000.

“We’re obviously very pleased by this decision,” said Louis Sokolov, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.

“These employees will now have the opportunity to have the merit of their claims addressed on a class-wide basis and will enjoy the access to justice and efficiency that a class action can provide,” lawyer David O’Connor added.

Sokolov had argued the bank was loose with its record-keeping when it came to extra work hours, resulting in many employees working time they weren’t being paid for. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Last year, a judge dismissed a similar suit filed against CIBC (TSX:CM) by a teller alleging unpaid overtime to the bank’s customer service staff. An appeal of that decision will be heard in March and Sokolov, who is also representing the plaintiffs in the CIBC case, said he will ask the court to consider the Scotiabank decision when making its ruling.

“Scotiabank had argued quite strenuously that the judge should simply apply the findings of the CIBC decision to this case and reject it on this basis. We obviously argued that that was inappropriate and the judge agreed with us,” Sokolov said.

Scotiabank spokeswoman Ann DeRabbie said the bank was “disappointed” with the lawsuit’s certification as a class action. She said Scotiabank had not yet decided whether to appeal the decision.

“We’re going to take some time, we’re going to look at the judge’s comments and then we’ll make our decision about what to do next,” she said.

The bank had argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because thousands of employees involved in the case have individual claims, and even if some employees do have legitimate claims for overtime, their experience varies. But Sokolov said the case needs to be heard as a class action because of the similarities between employees’ experiences.

“Since the time we launched this case, more than two years ago, we have consistently heard from Scotiabank employees all across the country that the allegations in the statement of claim accord with their experiences,” he said.

“Although Scotiabank tried to suggest that this was the individual complaint of a single employee, the realities that we heard from employees across the country were very different.”

Fulawka is a personal banker who has worked for Scotiabank for 20 years.

“I am very encouraged that we will be able to pursue this case on behalf of thousands of my fellow hard-working employees,” she said in a statement.

Justice George Strathy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that the case dealt with “systemic wrongs that give rise to common issues, the resolution of which would advance the claim of every class member.” In particular, he said a policy that placed the onus on the employee to get approval in advance for overtime they expected to work made it “difficult for employees to obtain fair compensation.”

Sokolov says he expects the bank to appeal the decision.

With a class action, a suit filed by one or more plaintiffs can be used to seek compensation for them and any other people who fit the criteria.

Scotiabank has more than 69,000 employees and operations across Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean.