Panjaab Transport, which was recently placed into receivership but said it has a plan to escape from it, has been accused of wage theft, driver exploitation and even evading environmental regulations meant to protect all Canadians in a series of allegations by former and current drivers.
Since reporting on Panjaab’s receivership last week, trucknews.com has heard from more than half-a-dozen drivers who are — or were — employed by the company and claim they have not been paid for all their work. Accusations of non-payment stretch back to last year. Drivers requested their names not be disclosed for fear of retribution.
We also reviewed and verified the validity of a group chat among more than 15 drivers who claimed to be owed money by Panjaab Transport – even before control of the company was relinquished by court order to a receiver earlier this month. Here’s what we have learned about Panjaab Transport:
With emissions systems deleted, are Panjaab trucks even legal?
We have been told that Trans247 trucks, operated by an Alberta-plated car-hauling affiliate of Panjaab, have had their emission systems deleted. An employment agreement seen by trucknews.com for a Trans247-employed independent contractor was on Panjaab Transport letterhead, confirming the two companies are related.
A former Panjaab Transport flatdeck operator in Ontario said he personally drove a Panjaab-branded truck with deleted emission system.
“If the MTO (Ministry of Transportation of Ontario) does a yard visit and inspects their trucks just a handful, trust me 4/5 will have the plates removed,” another former driver told us, responding to a question about emission system removal.
This would surely come as a disappointment to creditors, since emission-deleted trucks would be virtually worthless unless tens of thousands of dollars in emission aftertreatment equipment is reinstalled and restored to working order.
Training described as inadequate
One former driver, who was hired as a car hauler with no prior car hauling experience, said he was given just two days’ training to learn the delicate art of loading and unloading cars. It’s one of the most demanding applications in trucking, one that leaves no room for error. He said he told company owner Sunny Singh he felt unprepared to make deliveries after just two days of practice but was pressured into taking solo trips by Day 3.
Drivers with no experience were regularly hired at Panjaab, the same driver said.
The driver said he showed up at Panjaab’s office after leaving the company to demand payment for his final week’s work. He told newcomers waiting in the reception area applying for jobs not to work for Panjaab because it doesn’t pay its drivers. He never did receive that final paycheck.
Court documents related to the receivership proceedings indicate Panjaab was covered under Facility Association insurance. Facility Association is dubbed the insurer of last resort; most traditional insurance companies would not cover drivers with no verifiable experience.
“We are with facility insurance as you can see on policy, which is completely different when it comes to details,” Singh wrote the receiver via email when asked for a “copy of the policy that lists all vehicles insured by the company. That information should be readily available.”
“We don’t have any portal access from our broker, everything is manually asked from broker. I have requested current detailed list,” Singh responded to Spergel. One might wonder how RBC found itself owed $12M by a company relying on Facility Association coverage — but that’s another matter.
Government-backed Facility Association coverage allows companies that otherwise wouldn’t be able to obtain commercial insurance to operate.
Company denies wage theft accusations
Asked why drivers would continue working for Panjaab despite missed paychecks, several former employees said many of those drivers are here on work permits and unable to seek employment elsewhere. Such drivers are vulnerable and can be strung along with partial payments or the promise of future payments, with little alternative but to acquiesce — or potentially leave Canada.
Asked if Panjaab Transport has committed wage theft, Singh wrote in an email: “Any issues related to payments or operations are currently being handled under court supervision as part of the receivership and refinancing process. Certain accounts and transactions have been temporarily frozen pending legal review, which has caused delays for some drivers and vendors — but this does not constitute ‘wage theft’ or any intentional act of non-payment.”
Wage theft accusations, however, predate the court proceedings. One former driver showed trucknews.com documents indicating he paid nearly $10,000 in HST to Canada Revenue Agency while the company did not pass on the HST it collected, or should have collected, to him. Attempts to recover the funds owed were unsuccessful.
This was a common theme among those claiming wage theft. Emails to Panjaab’s accounting department seen by trucknews.com from the above driver resulted in delays and excuses. The team driver and his partner left the company still owed about $10,000.
The same driver shared with trucknews.com a group chat among 16 Panjaab drivers who claimed to be owed money and discussed appropriate ways in which to recover their earnings. This was in late 2024, before the receiver took control over Panjaab’s finances. A tally of how much they claimed they were owed included:
- $7,000 + HST for eight months
- $8,000 + HST
- $4,500 + HST
- $13,500 + HST
- $9,000
- $10,000 + HST
- $14,000 + HST
- $12,000 + HST
- $14,500
- $11,800 + HST
- $8,500 + HST
- $9,000 + HST
- $6,000
- $32,000 + HST
- $20,000+
- $1,200 + HST
That’s $161,000…plus tax.
One driver who accepted his losses and moved on, expressed concern about those working for Panjaab who didn’t have the option to do so.
“They force their drivers [to drive] illegal equipment,” he told trucknews.com. “We never drive something like that. We refuse this. But there are drivers who are on LMIAs (labor market impact assessments), the closed work permits, they cannot go anywhere to work. So, they exploit them. They harass them to work under those conditions.”
CRA audit
Many of the drivers claiming wage theft cite unpaid HST reimbursements. Court documents reveal Canada Revenue Agency denied $2.27 million in 2024 HST claims by Panjaab Transport, alleging that those claims were made with related businesses “not engaged in commercial activity.”
CRA fined Panjaab $602,025 for “gross negligence” as a result. Singh denies the allegations and told trucknews.com he is appealing the decision.
It should be noted, CRA’s withholding of HST claims is not an indictment of the Driver Inc. model utilized by Panjaab Transport. The withholding of HST claims and the related fine resulted from transactions with businesses the CRA deemed were “not engaged in commercial activity” – not due to Panjaab’s misclassification of drivers.
Back to the real issue behind the CRA audit and its conclusion. The interim receiver obtained corporate profiles of the entities CRA questioned the legitimacy of, and found many of them to be related to Singh and his relatives:
Jimmy Truckline liens
The interim receiver, in its report, accused Panjaab Transport of using a related entity, Jimmy Truckline, to place liens against its equipment in an attempt to prevent RBC from enforcing its rights as creditor.
Ramandeep Kaur, owner and director of Jimmy Truckline, wrote to trucknews.com this weekend seeking compensation for damages related to our reporting on publicly available court documents and insisting: “Jimmy Truckline Inc. is a separate and independently operated business entity, not under any receivership or bankruptcy, and has no ownership, operational, or financial ties to Panjaab Transport or its obligations.”
A broker who has assigned freight to Panjaab Transport before DNU-ing (Do Not Using) it for back-solicitation (not illegal, but unethical), told trucknews.com it was given the option to send that same freight on Jimmy Truckline trucks. Jimmy Truckline has an FMCSA-reported out-of-service rate of 40%, well above the national average. Singh didn’t respond to a question as to why Jimmy Truckline – a non-related entity — placed liens against Panjaab equipment.
“Any liens or notices registered were made in compliance with commercial repair and storage law for legitimate work performed and well before any receivership orders were made public,” Jimmy owner Kaur said in an email threatening legal action.
Spergel was appointed interim receiver on Sept. 19. The liens were applied “on or around Sept. 25” the interim receiver’s report said.
In its report, the interim receiver reported: “A corporate profile report for Jimmy indicates that its sole director is Ramandeep Kaur. The interim receiver understands that Ramandeep is Sunny’s sister-in-law.”
Multiple sources we spoke to who’ve worked for the companies confirmed Jimmy Truckline, Palm Transport, and Panjaab Transport are all owned by Singh and/or relatives.
Questions about future viability
Singh told trucknews.com last week it has financing in place that will allow it to cover all its debt obligations. The interim receiver is unconvinced.
“The interim receiver notes that the term sheet is merely a preliminary proposal and is subject to, amongst other things, completion of due diligence, credit review and invoice verification,” it wrote in its report.
“Given Panjaab does not have access to its accounting software* and Panjaab was not able to provide the interim receiver with information to verify sales invoices, the interim receiver is uncertain as to how it will provide the same information to Rev Capital on an expedited basis to secure financing.”
* Panjaab told the interim receiver it was unable to access its own Quickbooks account, limiting the receiver’s visibility into corporate financial records.
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