Hare Motors Ltd found out the hard way not to mess with employees vacation pay after Vijaya Sundram Naidu took the Surrey used car dealership to court and won.

Naidu’s lawsuit centred on vacation pay owed to him for 2006 to 2012, when he worked for Hare Motors as a commissioned salesman.

Hare paid out some of the amount claimed but refused to pay the rest, arguing that it incorporated vacation pay into its commission structure.

Naidu argued that the Employment Standards Act of British Columbia forbids this. Surrey provincial court Judge Kenneth Skilnick agreed.

“The contract is an effort by the defendant to have the claimant pay for the defendant employer’s obligation to pay vacation pay by a reduction in the claimant’s commission,” Skilnick determined. “Section 4 of the Employment Standards Act prohibits this. Accordingly, this portion of the contract has no effect and is unenforceable against the claimant.

“The claimant is entitled to sue for all of the vacation pay owing to him,” the judge decided.

Skilnick ordered Hare Motors to pay Naidu $7,955.10.