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Are franchisees more prone to employment standards violations than other businesses? Evidence from Ontario, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Mark D Easton Open the ORCID record for Mark D Easton [Opens in a new window] ,
Andrea M Noack Open the ORCID record for Andrea M Noack [Opens in a new window]  and
Leah F Vosko
Mark D Easton*
Affiliation:
York University, Canada
Andrea M Noack
Affiliation:
Ryerson University, Canada
Leah F Vosko
Affiliation:
York University, Canada
*
Mark D Easton, Gender and Work Unit, York University, Keele Campus, 6th Floor, Kaneff Tower, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada. Email: mark.easton@utoronto.ca
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Abstract

Using an administrative dataset from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, we investigate three hypotheses about employment standards violations among franchised businesses: (1) franchisees have a higher probability of violating employment standards than other businesses, (2) franchisees have a higher probability of monetary/wage-related ES violations than other businesses, and (3) franchisees have a lower probability of repaying monetary/wage-related violations than other businesses. The results of our statistical models suggest that overall, franchisees are indeed more likely to violate ES, have a higher probability of monetary/wage-related violations, and are less likely to repay such violations. However, the results vary substantially by industry. While franchisees had only marginally higher probabilities of an ES violation in two of the seven industry-groups examined, five of the seven industries showed substantially higher probabilities of a monetary violation. The results also show that franchisees in three industry groups (retail, accommodation and food services, and education, public administration, healthcare and social services) are particularly prone to monetary violations.

Keywords

J83J88J89Canadacomplianceemployment standardsenforcementfranchisingindustrylabour standardslegal violationsOntario
Type
Original Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 39 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020

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