Air Canada has filed an appeal, which has not yet been heard. This week, the judge decided on a formula to calculate lost wages and other damages for the 2,200 former employees of the shuttered Aveos plants, located in Montreal, Winnipeg and Mississauga. The compensation will likely top $100 million — at least $45,400 per employee — said Elodie Drolet-French, a lawyer representing the workers.
The ex-employees would need to make individual submissions. “There will be a process that is clear,” Drolet-French said in an interview. “It will be easy.
” The compensation could cover damages ranging from a loss of benefits to “loss of self-esteem,” stress and divorce, according to a release in French from law firm Trudel Johnston and Lespérance. “Although it is difficult at this time to estimate the total amount that Air Canada will have to pay as a result of the members’ claims, the representative’s attorneys conservatively estimate that this amount well exceeds $100 million,” said Anne-Julie Asselinit, a partner at the firm. Air Canada stressed that Monday’s decision merely lays out a calculation method and calls for proof of losses from individual members.
“It is completely silent on the quantification of the total amount. Any assessment at this stage is therefore pure speculation,” said spokesman Christophe Hennebelle in an email. If the airline’s appeal of the initial judgment succeeds, the latest decision from Judge Marie-Christine Hivon will no.