Document Details

2015-11-11

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change

MWAC newsletter

Migrant workers won! Recruitment fees are banned!

After nearly seven years of migrant workers speaking out and calling for protections, recruitment fees have been made illegal in Ontario by the Employment Protections for Foreign Nationals Act (EPFNA). This new law extends the following protections:
Bans fees being charged directly or indirectly by recruiters to live-in-caregivers AND temporary foreign workers in other industries (e.g., recruitment/placement fees and fees for other supplementary services);
Stops employers from charging or recovering recruitment/placement fees from live-in-caregivers AND temporary foreign workers;
Allows live-in-caregivers AND temporary foreign workers up to three and a half years to make a complaint or to recover prohibited fees;
Prohibits reprisals against live-in caregivers AND temporary foreign workers for exercising their rights under the legislation; and
Prohibits an employer or recruiter in Ontario from taking possession of a live-in caregiver OR temporary foreign workers' property, including documents such as passports
But of course, more needs to be done.

For Live-In Caregivers: Any Caregiver that paid recruitment or placement fees after March 2010 can complain to the Ministry of Labour (MoL). Applications to MoL must be made with 3.5 years of the date the violation occurred.

For Temporary Foreign Worker: Any migrant worker, not a Caregiver, that paid recruitment or placement fees after November 23, 2015 can complain to the Ministry of Labour (MoL). Applications to MoL must be made with 3.5 years of the date the violation occurred. If the worker started paying the fees before November 23, but continued to pay them after November 23, 2015, they might be able to make a claim for those fees and should seek legal advice.

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  MORE DETAILS (http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9de587703062110954e080261&id=6ae37b5cd9)
  

General relevance - all sectors

Current Policy

(Im)migrants workers, Employers, agencies and their representatives, and NGOs/community groups/solidarity networks

Ontario and Quebec

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