The owner of an Etobicoke-based Canadian Tire store has been fined $111,000 by the federal government for violating the guidelines of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program.
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the federal ministry that runs the TFW program, found branch owner Ezhil Natarajan in violation of two guidelines: that wages, work conditions or the job did not match what was listed in offers of employment and that employees were assigned to work different roles than what they were hired for.
The violations were reported on a public database that lists employers’ compliance with the TFW program, which listed Natarajan’s company, Geethaezhil Inc., as “ineligible” for the program due to an unpaid fine.
ESDC’s final decision in July this year came after two of the Etobicoke branch’s former employees spoke out to CBC News alleging mistreatment, poor working conditions and being paid less than agreed-upon wages by Natarajan.
Natarajan did not immediately respond to CBC News’ request for comment Monday.
He has owned and managed various Canadian Tire stores through his company GeethaEzhil Inc. since 2012, according to a LinkedIn profile seen by CBC News last year.
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour said an investigation into Natarajan is ongoing.
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CBC News has reached out to ESDC and Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to expand on the details of the investigation and penalty.
Canadian Tire did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
But the company’s website notes that stores are all independently owned and operated, and that each store has the “sole and exclusive right to interview, select, hire and train their staff.”
The Canadian Tire owned by Ezhil Natarajan opened in 2023. (Michael Cole/CBC)Owner underpaid, poorly treated employees: foreign workers
Rowell Pailan told CBC News last year that he was hired through the TFW program to work at the Canadian Tire store owned by Natarajan.
He said the job offer for a full-time store supervisor position was very appealing, until his hourly pay rate was reduced from $20 per hour to $16.50 per hour.
Pailan said Natarajan informed him of the change in a private conversation and threatened to terminate him if he told anyone about it.
Another worker, Jhan Cresencio, told CBC News last year that Natarajan shouted at him in a derogatory manner in 2023, after he lent his key to another employee to retrieve something from a break room.
Cresencio was able to convert to an open work permit through a program meant specifically for TFWs undergoing abuse or at risk of abuse.
Rowell Pailan, left, lives in Wolfville, N.S., and Jhan Cresencio, right, lives in Labrador City. Both allege Natarajan underpaid and poorly treated foreign workers in interviews with CBC News. (CBC/Courtesy Jhan Cresencio)
When an employee is approved for an open work permit for vulnerable workers, that triggers an inspection of the employer to make sure foreign workers are being treated according to their job offers, said the IRCC in a statement to CBC News last year.
Cresencio and Pailan moved to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia respectively in search of other opportunities. Neither responded to requests for comment regarding Natarajan’s fine.
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Pailan said he paid $7,900 US (approximately $10,000 Cdn) to an Alberta-based recruitment agency to get the job with Natarajan at Canadian Tire.
In June this year, the province fined Allison Jones Consulting and AJ Immigration Group $165,000 in eight cases — including Pailan’s – for illegally charging workers for job placements.
Both companies will be appealing those decisions, said owner Allison Jones.