Out-of-work Goodwill employees to receive pay following store closures

Goodwill employees out of the job after stores across the Greater Toronto Area were shut down this week will get their pay after all.

Goodwill CEO Keiko Nakamura said in a statement released Friday that staff “will receive their pay due for hours worked up to and including January 16, 2016.”

Employees can expect to receive their pay deposited into their bank accounts by the end of the day on Friday, Nakamura said, with a record of employment to be available next week.

READ MORE: Goodwill employees speak out after store closures across Ontario

“I regret the concern, anxiety and frustration the staff of Goodwill has experienced as a result Goodwill’s cash flow crisis resulting in the closing of all stores and operations,” she said.

Nakamura had previously said that staff would not be paid, but that the organization would provide an update on payroll deposits this week.

Sixteen stores and 10 drop-off centres in Toronto, central, eastern and northern Ontario were locked after CEO Keiko Nakamura announced Goodwill was in a financial crisis, losing over a million dollars a year.

Former Goodwill employees gathered earlier this week at the organization’s Scarborough headquarters to express their concern over the 80-year-old charitable institution’s store closures.

READ MORE: GTA Goodwill stores to stay closed as company seeks solution to cash-flow problems

Many were worried about their pay and how they were going to support themselves after losing their jobs.

Nakamura said in the statement her priority was to ensure the payment of the staff for work done and is directing former employees and clients to a volunteer group set up to help those affected by the closures.

The group called Renew The Good launched a $100,000 fundraising campaign to go towards providing funds for food, rent and medication.

Nakamura also advised the public to stop dropping off items at stores and to instead forward them to other charitable organizations.

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With a file from Adam Miller