The territory's director of employment standards has gone to the Yukon Supreme Court to get the final wages due to the 14 women who abruptly lost their jobs with the closure of a Whitehorse day care.

The former employees of Little Paws Learning Centre, which closed with only few days' notice on Dec. 15, are still owed almost $33,000 in unpaid wages, according to court documents filed in late January.

The not-for-profit day care was evicted from its Range Road location after bouncing rent cheques for November and December.

In mid-December, the landlord, Borud Enterprises, managed to cash one of the bounced cheques, leaving the Little Paws bank account empty.

None of the employees contacted by the Star this week wanted to comment on the case now that it is in the court.

One woman did confirm that they had received a small amount of money toward their wages in December.

This was likely drawn from the $5,700 in outstanding subsidy payments given to the board by the Department of Health and Social Services after learning of Little Paws' plight.

The eviction prompted a flurry of letters and accusations from members of the Little Paws board of directors.

Andrew Robulack was the executive director of the board that ran the society in its final days. He charged both the former board, which he was a member of, and the government with "extreme irresponsibility."

The board, he said, was irresponsible for signing an unaffordable lease costing $12,000 a month. The government then backed that foolish decision, said Robulack, by securing the lease with a $50,000 security deposit on the property.

A week after the day care closed its doors, Robulack, along with three other members of the board, treasurer Angela Anderson, Dawn Power and Rhonda Krause-McPhee, issued a letter to Health and Social Services Minister Glenn Hart. It criticized the landlords for cashing the day care's final rent cheque.

In that letter, the board asked the government for enough money to pay the outstanding wages owed to the centre's employees.

A couple of days later, Robulack was forced to issue another letter recanting his accusations against the landlords and admitting they had every right to withdraw the money that was owed to them.

The employees, however, had no cheques to cash, so their only option was to take their case to the employment standards office.

"Whenever a complaint is filed, we investigate and then forward our decision to both parties," Bill Wilcox, the director of employment standards, told the Star Wednesday.

"I can't speak of this case in particular, but every opportunity is afforded to (the employer) to make good on their infraction."

If, after the director has issued his decision, the wages are still not paid, the case is put in the hands of the Supreme Court, with the filing of an Employment Standard Act Certificate.

Once filed, the certificate is considered an order of the court "in favour of the employee named in the certificate and against the employer," in this case, Little Paws Learning Centre.

Wilcox said that out of 109 formal complaints made last year, five certificates were filed.

"Our preferred option is always voluntary compliance," Wilcox said. "At this stage, the certificate allows us to pursue assets."

It is unclear if Little Paws has any assets, and if it doesn't, it is equally unclear who will be liable for the unpaid wages.

In the Societies Act, which legislates non-profits, it states that no board member is individually liable for the society's debts.

The Employment Standards Act puts liability squarely on the shoulders of a corporation's directors, but does not mention non-profit societies.

Officials from both the labour services and corporate affairs branches agreed the question is a legal one, as no definitive answer exists in either piece of legislation.

Little Paws had been operating for more than 17 years, and Robulack took over as interim director after the government guaranteed the day care's lease.

Brad Cathers was Health minister when the department provided the $50,000 security deposit.

The day care's closure left parents of 45 children without child care.