Kevin O'Neill, a lawyer at Faskens, has written an article entitled, "A New Twist on Director’s Liability for Unpaid Wages in a Unionized Environment" (March 15, 2011). The article was published in the firm's HR Space newsletter.

It addresses the decision of the BC Employment Standards Tribunal in Writers Guild of Canada and The Director of Employment Standards, BC EST #RD021/11.

As noted by Mr. O'Neil in the article:

• The BC Employment Standards Act imposes liability on directors or officers for up to two months of unpaid wages for each affected employee.
• However, in the Writers Guild case, a company director "avoided ESA enforcement proceedings against him because the unpaid amounts arose out of an arbitration award against the company, in a unionized setting".