A long-haul trucking employer in Manitoba was fined $240,000 and banned from the TFW Program for five years after failing to provide proper working conditions, failing to comply with federal and provincial labour laws, and failing to provide required documentation to inspectors.
A management, scientific and technical consulting services employer in Quebec was fined $122,000 and banned for five years for failing to employ the worker in the occupation described in the job offer, providing inaccurate information in its LMIA application, and failing to make reasonable efforts to provide a workplace free of abuse.
A restaurant employer in Nova Scotia was fined $126,000 and banned for two years for failing to provide proper wages and working conditions and for non-compliance with federal and provincial labour laws. Non-compliant employers are also named on a public-facing list maintained by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The full list of employers that have been penalized for violations of TFWP rules is available here.
Previously, a temporary help agency and its director were fined a combined $150,000 after failing to comply with wage repayment orders under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), the provincial government said.
New low-wage stream requirements
Employers seeking to hire a temporary foreign worker in the Low-Wage stream must now advertise the position for eight consecutive weeks before submitting a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application, up from four weeks previously. Employers must also demonstrate adequate efforts to target youth in their recruitment for those positions.
ESDC said coordination between Job Bank and the TFW Program has been strengthened, giving processing officers more detailed and current information to assess an employer’s recruitment efforts and the availability of domestic jobseekers, including Employment Insurance recipients.
The LMIA assessment process has also been enhanced with stricter reviews for high-risk sectors, which the department identified as those with high youth employment, along with retail, food services, accommodation, and trucking. Advanced analytics, combined with information from tips, allegations, and inspections, are now used at the LMIA processing stage to flag employers at higher risk of program misuse and to direct inspection resources accordingly, ESDC said.