Close the Employment Standards Research Gap Initiative

Have you ever faced a problem at work? At your workplace, were you not paid wages, overtime pay, or vacation pay? Did you have problems with your hours, breaks, or scheduling? Were you laid off without any notice or termination pay?

If you faced any of these or other problems in your workplace, your employment standards were violated. If you filed a claim with the Ministry of Labour regarding these problems, we would like to hear from you.

We are currently working on a research project entitled Closing the Employment Standards Enforcement Gap: A Research Initiative on Improving Protections for People in Precarious Jobs. This is an Ontario-wide collaborative research initiative conducted by a team of researchers from 7 Ontario universities and community partners and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The goals of the research are to understand the nature and scope of employment standards violations among low-wage workers in Ontario and the associated enforcement challenges. More information about the project can be found here:

The research in Windsor is supervised by Dr. Urvashi Soni-Sinha at the University of Windsor. She can be reached at 519-253-3000 ext. 2198 or urvashi@uwindsor.ca.

We are looking for research participants:

• Who identify as workers 
• Whose wage earnings are less than $18 per hour 
• Who are not students 
• Who have filed a claim with the Ministry of Labour

If you fit these criteria, please consider contacting us to schedule an interview.

Interview details:

• Participation is completely voluntary. You can stop participating at any time, for any reason.
• All information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside the research team.
• Interviews will take 60-90 minutes, and at a time and location convenient to you. 
• You will receive an honorarium of $40 for participation. Your travel expenses will be covered in addition to the honorarium.
• If you or someone you know is interested, please contact: Ayesha Mian Akram, Research Assistant: amian@uwindsor.ca or call Toll-Free: 1-855-736-5331

Please consider taking some time to volunteer so that we can work together to create positive change in Ontario’s workplaces.