‘WE’VE MADE MISTAKES, BUT WE ARE LEARNING FROM THIS’

Peter Bocking took to social media wondering why his daughter hadn't yet been paid for her performances on the holiday train.

"We let it go for a while, but recognizing that a 12 or 13 year old doesn't necessarily have the capacity to stand up to a grown-up, eventually my wife and I decided we needed to step in," said Bocking of his 12year-old daughter.

Bocking said he spent nearly a month going back and forth with YDHR representatives about his daughter's unpaid hours, going so far as to try to contact YDHR CEO John Perks. When the issue remained unresolved, Bocking took the situation to social media, posting a negative Google review and an explanation of the issue on Facebook.

"I felt like I had no other recourse," he said. "It was only days after that I got a direct call from John."

While his daughter was eventually paid, Bocking learned after posting an update that there were other performers in the same situation.

"It was an onslaught," Bocking said of the response his second post received, not only from the parents of other performers but also vendors, and past and present employees of both YDHR and other businesses Perks is involved with.

"My heart goes out to YDHR, looking at the tornado and then the derailment ... but it shouldn't be up to the employees to bankroll you," Bocking said. "You can't just not pay your employees."

Perks said the payment issue stemmed from a lack of communication between YDHR and a third-party production company that was hired to source the talent. He said multiple re

quests for personal information for the performers was ignored, which prevented the railway from being able to enter them into their payment system.

"They were all fantastic; they all worked hard," Perks said of the performers, noting the railway did pay the students one paycheck early on by entering just first and last names in their system and handing them out in person.

"We said we'll issue these cheques in a gesture of good faith and will then need to collect the rest of the personal information."

The issue was further exacerbated by a Dec. 9 derailment that ended up canceling the rest of the event run, and the railway's annual January holiday closure, which meant staff weren't on site to respond to concerns.

Grade 9 student Savannah Clouter, 14, one of the performers, said she didn't question the lack of pay for a few weeks because of the derailment, but grew concerned when she got an email from the third-party producer notifying performers his contract with

YDHR had ended, and including contacts to notify if they hadn't received payment.

"We got the email and then he just left us, he said he would update us, but I never heard from him again," she said.

Clouter reached out at the end of December but wasn't getting a response so her mother stepped in and also reached out. She eventually received a payment mid-february after the social media outcry kicked up, but said she's still owed for some of the hours.

Clouter said she and other performers understood they were working for YDHR because they signed a contract that listed the railway as the second party, but Perks claims no one at YDHR was aware of or had reviewed the contract signed by the performers.

The Uxbridge TimesJournal sent a message to the third-party producer via an email provided by one of the performers but received no response.

"I do babysit so I kind of know what it's like to be

working, and it just seemed like a bad environment," Clouter said. "Overall, we really didn't know what we were supposed to be doing and people would yell at us. Our contract said we would be provided with one meal every day we performed but if we went to get food, they yelled at us for taking food. It wasn't a great experience."

Perks said the incident has prompted the YDHR Board to take corrective measures, including prohibiting the use of thirdparty producers on future productions and hiring an in-house director to handle performers.

"This will allow us to have control over the show and actors and ensure they're treated in a way that holds to our values," Perks said of the move.

"Certainly, we've made mistakes, but we are learning from this, and we've already taken measures to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Debra Stratton reported a similar experience after working for the railway one weekend in December.

"I kind of did anything

and everything, there wasn't a lot of structure," Stratton said of her short experience there, helping with odd jobs for the North Pole Light Up Express.

Although staff were keen to put her event planning experience to good use, Stratton said she quickly decided not to continue with the position and notified her supervisor of her decision after her first weekend worked.

"It just wasn't a good fit; it wasn't well managed," she said. "I have management experience so I know how you should talk to and treat employees, as an adult I felt respected but I don't think a lot of younger employees would feel the same way."

Stratton contacted her supervisor regarding payment about a week later but was told it would be handled by another staff member. By early February, and following several more inquiries, Stratton informed them she would be taking the issue to social media if she wasn't paid, and followed through.

Shortly after posting about the nonpayment in a

Google review, she was contacted and subsequently sent payment via etransfer.

"I was contacted and asked for my hours worked and sent etransfer almost immediately," Stratton said. "They did later send an email to confirm the transfer and asked me to delete or at least update my Google review now that the situation was resolved. I was paid, but I think it's larger issue."

Perks said he hopes changes made in the wake of the outcry mean payment will not be an issue moving forward.

"We learned many valuable lessons ...," Perks said. "We're in a position where cash flow has been severely damaged, we've just come out of a horrendous threeyear period. Our board has frozen all spending, but when we went to them with this situation they didn't hesitate, they just said 'make sure they're paid.'"