Can a bad employer affect credit scores?

[SpicyToFu]

A friend of mine took a temporary job as a driver for some side cash. He made a mistake as a result of a lack of instruction from his employer and resulted in a few hundred dollar fine from the city to the company. His employer tried to push the city fine to him claiming that he is a independent contractor (vs. an employee) to slide the responsibility to him. My friend is clearly an employee based on the level of control from his supervisor (scheduling, in-direct supervision, use of employer's tools...etc).

He hasn't been called to work and the company owes him about 30 hours of wages. The employer is also calling him saying he has an outstanding invoice to bill my friend for the fine and if he doesn't pay it will affect his credit score.

My friend is thinking of walking away from this whole thing due to his bad english skills but I am urging him to deal with labour relations or someone to sort out his unpaid wages. Now, the employer only has his name and cell phone number. Can the employer really affect his credit rating based on his name and maybe his cell phone number?

Edit2:
Also, would using my friends name on the fine count as identity fraud? (I don't know if this is possible, since his employer does not even have his address)

Additional info:
With my research, according to section 21 of the Employment Standards Act, an employee can not be fined for the cost of running a company.

Edit:
If applicable, please move to employment forum if this thread is more suitable there, seeing how credit is involved, I posted this here. TIA!

[Gt-R R34]

No they cant. But I would advise him to deal with the labour board sounds like a shady employer plus I'm sure the board has a language speaker to help
Posted via RS Mobile

[SpicyToFu]

Thanks for your reply and I have found out that the labour relations board BC only deals with union matters.

For non-union matters, its best to deal with employment standards BC (for future reference).

[dangonay]

Go the the labour relations board for sure. They have to pay outstanding wages. Furthermore, an employer cannot hold an employee responsible for any costs incurred or damages done by the employee while working.

For example, a mechanic working at a dealership hits a car on the lot and does $3,000 damage. The dealership is responsible for the $3,000, not the mechanic.

If the mechanic did it on purpose (he was planning on quitting and decided to go out with a bang), then the employer would have to sue the employee in court to get the $3,000 - they'd still have to pay out any owed wages.

Tell your friend not to let this guy get away with anything and to make sure he gets his wages and doesn't pay a cent of the fine.