In an older building in one of the busiest shopping districts in Atlantic Canada, business is brisk inside the fledging Glitter Bean Cafe.
Owned by workers such as Emerson Roach, the venture followed a lengthy and high-profile dispute with their former boss.
Trouble started, they say, when paycheques started bouncing days before Christmas last year.
“At one point, I was owed over $1,700,” Roach said. “So that was about three paycheques that had bounced that hadn't been replaced.”
Roach struggled to pay rent and had to make tough choices to cover medical costs for chronic asthma.
Co-workers found themselves in the same boat.
“It's very stressful seeing you and your co-workers not be able to pay rent or blow through your savings,” said Charlie Huntley.
“And we’re talking about sectors that don't have extremely high wages.”
The case has inspired Nova Scotia’s NDP to introduce legislation to protect workers from so-called “stolen wages.”
The plan includes the creation of a so-called emergency fund to cover costs when employers stop paying.
They would be able to go the employment wage protection program, and an investigation would be held, and if it were in fact determined that their wages had not been paid, then out of that program itself, the person would receive the money and then the government would recoup it from the employer.
Some note the problem is the exception, not the rule.
Restaurants Canada tells CTV News it supports the provincial labour code, which has strong provisions protecting employees -- and they expect employees to be paid for their work.
While offering to help develop any new laws, the association adds “the political theatre is not the place to develop sound legislation.”
So, it's new beginnings for workers like Roach, who says money is still owing from their last job.
It’s a hard lesson for the people behind a fledging business, who hope others won't have the dark days they did.
Jordi Morgan vice-president of the Atlantic region for the Canadian Federation of Independant Business, says the vast majority of employers understand the rules and are in compliance.
“Nova Scotia already has stringent labour standards to deal with owed wages and overtime,” Morgan said. “This is more an enforcement issue on a specific case than a need for more regulations.”
Nevertheless, the NDP says it will introduce the legislation in the house on Tuesday.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko