I just served my 2 weeks notice to my employer, resigning from my role as a lead web designer in a small company in Eastern Canada. Most of my colleagues understand, as they themselves are planning their own exit strategies (abusive boss). I am a regular, non-contract, full-time salaried employee.
The CEO (my boss) has just informed me that there will be additional paperwork that I "need to sign" before my final pay check will be paid out. The check would be for my final 2 weeks of work, along with about a year of vacation pay (roughly equivalent to another 2 weeks of work, amounting to 4 weeks of pay in total), and I need it badly (mother with husband on worker's comp with a workplace injury, living paycheck to paycheck with 2 kids). I have a new job lined up, but I didn't anticipate my current employer withholding what is already legally required to be paid to me.
I have no plans to sign any further NDAs, forms, etc. I noted that if those were so important, they should have been provided when I was hired, not now.
Assuming the CEO will follow-through (he's made sure to communicate all of this verbally, nothing in writing), what pre-emptive steps can I take? Are there any officers or inspectors I could contact from the ministry of labor who could send a gentle reminder that what he's planning is illegal, and to just pay me out? Or do I have to come up with money I don't have to get a lawyer? I can't be paying out legal fees to an attorney and missing work at my new job, but need that pay.