Notice: The Desjardins Class Action has been settled, and the claims process opened on December 15, 2025. Please file your claim by March 25, 2026. Please reach out to the Claims Administrator: Verita Global, Phone: 1-888-808-8970, Email: , Website: desjardinsvacationbanksettlement.com
On June 21, 2021, Monkhouse Law filed for an order to certify a class action lawsuit against Desjardins for their negative vacation bank policy and unauthorized deductions from wages at the end of employment.
The employee class action lawsuit alleges that Desjardins’ practice of making unauthorized deductions from wages as per the company’s negative vacation bank policy (the “Policy“) is in violation of employment standards. Desjardins denies any liability and denies the truth of the allegations made against it.
On November 3, 2025 the Superior Court of Justice approved the settlement between Desjardins Financial Services Firm Inc., Desjardins Global Asset Management, The Personal Insurance Company, Desjardins Financial Security, Desjardins Securities Inc., Caisse Centrale Desjardins, Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, Collabria Financial Services Inc., Desjardins Shared Services Group Inc., Desjardins Technology Group Inc., Desjardins Financial Security Life Assurance Company, and Desjardins Investment Product Operations Inc., and Assistel Inc. (collectively “Desjardins”) and the representative plaintiff of a class action, CV-21-000210200CP, commenced in 2021, on behalf of Desjardins employees alleging that Desjardins was not entitled to recover the negative vacation bank amounts from employees.
Without any admission of liability, the settlement provides that Desjardins will pay an all-inclusive sum of $7,597,469.85 million to settle the class members’ claims and to also pay legal fees and the cost of distributing the settlement funds.
The action was certified for all employees outside of Quebec who were employed by Desjardins between May 1, 2011 and August 13, 2017, were subject to the Policy and who were terminated or left Desjardins prior to April 24, 2025, other than those who executed a termination agreement releasing their claims for vacation pay on or before July 31, 2024 (together, the “Class” or “Class Members”).
The matter was certified on consent for settlement purposes on May 28, 2025. The settlement approval hearing before the Superior Court of Justice occurred on September 29, 2025. If you were an employee of Desjardins and fall within the class definition, you are automatically included as a member of the class unless you opted out during the opt-out period ending July 27, 2025. All members of the Class who did not opt out are included in the Settlement Agreement. Desjardins has ceased to apply the Policy as of April 24, 2025, and current employees will be made whole by April 2, 2026.
December 15, 2025 Press Release: $7.6M Settlement Approved in Desjardins Negative Vacation Bank Class Action. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the settlement on November 3, 2025. The claims process will begin on December 17, 2025:
Please reach out to the Claims Administrator:
Verita Global
Phone: 1-888-808-8970
Email:
Go to Claim Website for more information: https://www.desjardinsvacationbanksettlement.com/
MEMBERS OF THE CLASS MUST SUBMIT A CLAIM BY MARCH 25, 2026
FAQ
For any questions concerning claims submissions, please go to the Verita Global website here
Class Members are defined as:
All employees outside of Quebec who were employed by Desjardins Financial Services Firm Inc., Desjardins Global Asset Management, The Personal Insurance Company, Desjardins Financial Security, Desjardins Securities Inc., Caisse Centrale Desjardins, Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, Collabria Financial Services Inc., Desjardins Shared Services Group Inc., Desjardins Technology Group Inc., Desjardins Financial Security Life Assurance Company, and Desjardins Investment Product Operations Inc., and Assistel Inc. (collectively “Desjardins”) between May 1, 2011 and August 13, 2017, were subject to the vacation bank policy and who were terminated or left Desjardins prior to the date of April 24, 2025, other than those who executed a termination agreement releasing their claims for vacation pay on or before July 31, 2024.
Class Member Options
- Submit a claim: Class Members must submit a claim to the Claims Administrator by March 25, 2026 in order to receive any settlement benefits. You may submit a claim online here. A PDF version of the claim form is available for download here.
- You can do nothing: If you are a Class Member and do not submit a claim by the deadline of March 25, 2026, you will not be eligible to receive a payment.
The class administrator, Verita, sent the short form notice of settlement approved to the emails and mailing addresses provided by Desjardins. If you did not get a notice from Verita, it may mean that your email was not included in the information provided to the class administrator.
Please check your spam and junk folders.
The short form notice of settlement approved is available here. The long form notice of settlement approved is available here.
November 3, 2025:
The Court approved the settlement on November 3, 2025. Desjardins will eliminate the negative balance of vacation hours advanced at the outset of employment under the Policy for any Current Employee of Desjardins by reducing the amount of the vacation bank hours advanced to the employee under the Policy to zero or providing a credit in the time management bank for the amount of hours repaid under the Policy.
The Court issued its order approving the Settlement Agreement on November 3, 2025. The order is available here.
Claims will be made with the Class Administrator, Verita, and the Claim Forms will be available on their website in due course.
October 23, 2025:
The Court Order approving the Settlement is still pending with the Court. Once it is issued a new notice will be posted on this website and on the website of the Class Administrator, Verita, to advise how Class Members can make claims. The Class Administrator will also send notices by email and mail to the available addresses of the Class Members advising how to make a claim.
September 29, 2025:
The Settlement Approval Hearing took place on September 29, 2025. The Court Order approving the settlement is still pending with the Court and the Claims Process to distribute the Settlement Funds has not commenced.
The Settlement Approval hearing will take place virtually on September 29, 2025 at 10 am and the teleconference link is available here: https://ca01web.
DAVIS v. DESJARDINS FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRM INC. et al, CV-21-00002102-00CPSETTLEMENT CONFERENCE – JUSTICE SHAW – VIA ZOOM – Dial by your location 833 955 1088 Canada Toll-free 855 703 8985 Canada Toll-free Meeting ID: 638 7733 3164 Passcode: 956974
June 10, 2025:
The class administrator, Verita, sent the short form notice of certification to the emails provided by Desjardins. If you did not get a notice from Verita, it may mean that your email was not included in the information provided to the class administrator.
Please check your spam and junk folders.
June 9, 2025:
Press Release: Desjardins Negative Vacation Bank Class Action – Certified on Consent for the Purposes of Settlement
Verita has been appointed as class administrator. After September 29, 2025, and once the settlement is approved, claims for compensation will have to be made with the Class Administrator. The dedicated web page of the Class Administrator is: https://www.
May 28, 2025:
The Court granted leave to amend the Amended Statement of Claim on May 28, 2025. The action was certified on consent for the purposes of settlement. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the certification of the action and notice to the class concerning the settlement approval hearing.
The order is available here.
The short notice of certification and of settlement approval hearing is available here.
The long form notice of certification and of settlement approval hearing is available here.
The settlement between the parties without admission of liability is available here.
Any objections to the settlement should be made by July 14, 2025. The objection form is available here.
Any opt-outs of the class action should be made by July 27, 2025. The opt-out form is available here.
The hearing for settlement approval is scheduled for September 29, 2025 and the link for the hearing will be posted two weeks prior to the hearing.
May 21, 2025:
The approval of notice hearing has been rescheduled for May 28, 2025 at 8:30 am.
May 5, 2025:
This case proceeding settled.
The certification on consent and approval of the notice plan is set for May 27, 2025 at 8:30 am.
The settlement approval hearing is scheduled for September 29, 2025.
The Endorsement of the Court is here.
April 14, 2025:
The parties attended a case conference. A further attendance before the court is scheduled for May 5, 2025. See Endorsement here.
April 24, 2025:
The representative plaintiff and Desjardins have reached a proposed settlement without admission of liability in this matter under which Desjardins will pay in excess of $7,000,000 to settle this lawsuit. These funds would be used to pay the claims of former employees of Desjardins with negative vacation balances who have left Desjardins.
April 26, 2024:
The summary judgment motion date scheduled for April 29–30, 2024 has been vacated on consent. See Endorsement here.
March 1, 2024:
The summary judgment motion scheduled for March 7–8 has been adjourned to April 29–30, 2024. See Endorsement here.
On March 31, 2022, the case management judge decided that the Defendant’s summary judgment motion will be heard prior to certification. The decision is available here.
June 9, 2021:
The Statement of Claim was issued.
IMPORTANT – No action is required by employees to join this class action. In Ontario, class action lawsuits are an “opt out” system, so if this class action lawsuit is certified, all employees who fall under the class action definition will be members of the class unless they opt out.
Negative Vacation Banks
In Ontario, employees accrue entitlement to vacation as they work. After one full year of work, an employee is entitled to two weeks of vacation. However, many employers allow employees to take vacation time during their first year, which is then banked in a “negative vacation bank”. This “negative vacation bank” can then be paid off with either overtime work or deducted from wages at the end of employment.
According to section 13 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000, the only way that an employer is legally able to deduct money from an employee’s wages is if the employee has signed a written statement authorizing the deduction. The authorization must either specify the amount to be deducted or provide a method to calculate the amount to be deducted.
If you would like to learn more about this class action against Desjardins, or are a former/current employee with Desjardins, please contact Monkhouse Law at (416) 907-9249 or by email at
Verita has been appointed as the Court-appointed Class Administrator. All claims for compensation must be submitted through Verita. The dedicated settlement website is: https://www.desjardinsvacationbanksettlement.com/