Airline caterer named in Quebec class action denies exploiting foreign workers
MONTREAL — A French airline caterer is denying that it knowingly employed undocumented workers at its Montreal facilities or that it used their precarious status to exploit them.
Newrest, which prepares in-flight meals for airlines, said in an email that it “scrupulously” respects Canadian and Quebec employment and immigration laws.
The company is named in an application for a class-action lawsuit that alleges more than 400 people were lured to Canada under false premises by a Montreal-area placement agency.
The lawsuit claims that the majority of those individuals were enticed to work for Newrest — even though they didn’t have work permits — and were regularly paid less than minimum wage and subject to other abuses.