Toronto backtracks on return-to-office plans for city employees as Omicron spreads its wings
Published on December 6, 2018 in
By
James Naulty,
Jared Egan
The City of Toronto will pay a total of $1 million in back wages to five employees who were laid off by Toronto Star Media Group on Nov. 30, a week before the Star Co. filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court last month.
In a separate move, Mayor John Tory will be taking over the city’s budget and human resources departments at midnight on Dec. 15, 2018, after the previous administration of Mike Del Grande was replaced Dec. 5, according to memos obtained by the Toronto Star.
Both of these developments follow Ontario’s government’s decision last week to allow one of Canada’s largest media companies to return to Canada for a review process.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s office confirmed Thursday that the Star Co. employees in question, who were laid off in the Nov. 30 layoff, would return to work and receive their severance in the first couple of weeks.
“We’ve had regular conversations with the employees involved in the Star story,” Kathleen Wynne’s private secretary, John Yakabuski, said in a telephone interview this afternoon.
“The government has been reaching out to them to help them get back to work and to the Star to try to resolve the matter.”
Asked if they would be returning to work on Monday, Yakabuski responded by email, “Yes. They will.”
The Star Co., formerly known as The Toronto Star, made news headlines last week with its announcement in bankruptcy court last month that it would not be able to repay its $1.5-billion debt to banks, after the parent company, Star Media Group Inc., was revealed to have understated its assets
