Canada’s federal government is continuing to crack down on employers who violate the rules of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
It issued $2.1 million of Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMP) for non-compliant employers violating the Employer Compliance rules in 2023.
This marked a 36% increase in AMP issuances compared to the year before that, when $1.54 million AMPs were issued.
The TFWP plays a major role in the Canadian economy, as it allows employers to access scarce labour by hiring foreign workers.
The primary deliverance of health and safety measures surrounding temporary workers is spearheaded by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which provided the news regarding an upping of TFWP’s compliance regime.
In 2023, 2,122 inspections under the TFWP were conducted by ESDC, 94% of cases in which employers were found compliant.
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12 employers, however, were banned. This is an increase from the 7 bans in 2022.
This strengthening is a result of a $48 million investment over two years, starting 2023-2024, into the improvement of the Employer Compliance Regime under the TFWP.
Supported measures include, according to ESDC:
- More program inspectors and maintenance of the worker protection tip line;
- Outreach sessions to employer organisations and consulates to help spread awareness of temporary foreign worker rights and employer obligations;
- Enhanced tools to provide user-friendly mechanisms to report potential misuse of the TFW Program; and
- Implementation of a process to escalate concerns to appropriate stakeholders within 48 hours in situations where the health and safety of temporary foreign workers are at immediate risk.
The Employer Compliance Regime is responsible for ensuring the protection of TFW rights and upholding their health and safety under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR).
Under this, three violation classifications in the IRPR (A, B, and C) can result in AMPs and bans from the program altogether.
These violations are those that:
- Endanger the life or safety of a worker;
- Result in failure to pay appropriate wages;
- Fail to provide safe working conditions and the right accommodations;
- Cause temporary workers to be victims of abuse.
The TFWP has grown considerably in Canada over the years. In 2000, there were 22,752 permit holders in Canada, compared to more than 119,000 in 2020.
The obligations of an employer utilizing the program are that they must:
- meet the requirements of the:
- Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)
- terms of the LMIA decision letter
- annexes to the decision letter
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR)
- keep all relevant records for 6 years beginning on the first day of the period of employment for which we issued the work permit, including:
- documents related to the LMIA
- documents related to the conditions set out in the IRPR
- conditions outlined the LMIA decision letter and its annexes
- changes in housing conditions (for example, when a TFW chooses to leave housing provided by the employer for private housing)
- inform ESDC right away of:
- any changes or errors with an approved LMIA
- changes in TFW working conditions
- address any compliance issues and voluntarily notify ESDC
