The Canadian government is planning to introduce new regulations that will allow unannounced inspections of companies using temporary foreign workers.
Employers would be signing off on the random inspections when they apply for permits to hire foreign workers. The departments of Citizenship and Immigration and Human Resources, which together run the temporary foreign worker program, will send inspectors to visit employers. The inspections are intended to prevent worker abuses and to ensure that employers are hiring the workers to do the jobs they claim in their applications as well as to ensure that the correct wages are being paid.
In recent years the temporary foreign worker program has come under fire for worker abuse, spurring reviews of the program and several new regulations. Such regulation changes include wage increases and opening up permits so that employees are not tied to the companies which brought them into the country.
“These reforms strengthen compliance and oversight to ensure that the program is being used as intended,” said a spokesperson for the Human Resources Department. “Inspections will be conducted when necessary at businesses using temporary foreign workers.”
Inspectors will be granted access to request documents and copies of documents as well as interview employees and employers at their discretion.
Source: www.canada.com
