Allstate Business Development Agents (BDA’s) in Ontario may be owed money for vacation pay and statutory holiday.
Toronto-based Monkhouse Law has issued a Lawsuit to certify the class action in the Superior Court of Justice, alleging that Allstate violated the Employment Standards Act (ESA) by failing to accurately pay the commission salespeople. The allegations must still be proven in court.
By order of Justice Perell of the Superior Court dated June 8, 2023 a class action has been certified against Allstate.
The certification order is available here.
The long notice of certification is available here.
The short notice of certification is available here.
By Order of Justice Perell dated January 23, 2024, 564 class members who had not previously received notice were given notice of certification.
This action was brought on behalf of all All Ontario Variable Compensation employees employed as a Business Development Agent (“BDA”) of Allstate Insurance Company of Canada (“Allstate”) from September 1, 2009 until August 21, 2023.
If you were a BDA of the Company and fall within the class definition, you are automatically included as a member of the class unless you opt out. All members of the class will be bound by the judgment of the Court, or any settlement reached by the parties and approved by the Court. Among other things, members of the class may be found to have been underpaid vacation and public holiday pay.
The action alleges that the Company’s BDA employees were underpaid vacation and public holiday pay on their commissions. The Company disputes these claims.
If you are one of the 564 class members on the 2024 Supplementary Class Member List and wish to exclude yourself from the proceeding, you must complete an opt-out form no later than May 13, 2024.
All other class members had to opt-out by November 28, 2023.
The 2024 Opt-out form is available here.
UPDATE:
January 23, 2024
On January 23, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court issued an order to provide the 2024 Notice of Certification to 564 additional class members who were not previously provided notice.
The 564 Class members included in the 2024 Supplementary Class Member list have until May 13, 2024 at 11:59 PM to opt-out. To opt-out please fill out the 2024 Opt-Out Notice and provide a copy of your ID.
The January 23, 2024 Court Order is available here.
The 2024 Notice of Certification is available here.
The 2024 Opt-out form is available here.
November 28, 2023
The opt-out deadline expired for all those who were initially provided notice as per the June 8, 2023 Court Order.
January 13, 2023
The Allstate class action was certified on January 13, 2023 by order of Justice Belobaba. The decision can be read at: Lee v. Allstate Insurance, 2023 ONSC 8 (CanLII), <https://canlii.ca/t/jtx4v>
Class members will be notified in accordance with the notice plan by email and letter by August 21, 2023.
More Information
If you would like to be kept updated with this class action against Allstate, or are a former/current commissioned insurance advisor with Allstate, please fill out this form or contact Alexandra Monkhouse at alexandra@monkhouselaw.com
Toronto-based Monkhouse Law has a strong history of representing employees in class actions including having started the first Canadian contractor misclassification case in 2015, Sondhi v Deloitte and the recent vacation and holiday pay class action for commissioned employees against RBC Insurance, where the allegations are similar to those in the Allstate claim.