LEGAL MATTERS
“On Dec. 1, 2015, new regulations came into effect which
create new fines of $500 to $100,000 per violations of the
program as of that date and bans from using the foreign
worker program up to and including permanent bans.”
G.W. CONSTRUCTION LTD.
GEORGE WILSON, G.S.C
President
P.O. Box 9
601 - 3rd Ave. E.
Buchanan, Sask. S0A 0J0
Bus: 306-592-2131
Fax: 306-592-2159
E-mail: gwconst@sasktel.net
Dean (306) 621-1289 Sean (306) 621-5114 Sandra (306) 621-1335
and universities, as well as young citizens
(generally no more than 30 or 35 years old)
from countries that have agreements with
Canada for working holiday visas. Those
countries include Australia, Germany,
Great Britain and Ireland.
If an employer obtains an LMIA approval
to hire foreign workers, then they must
keep detailed records for at least six years
to show that the promises to the workers, as
well as to Service Canada, were met. Those
records should include detailed payroll records,
copies of their work permits and the
LMIA approval. If special promises were
made, like paying their return flight, then
the employer must also keep proof that it
complied with that obligation.
Employers can have compliance problems
even if they are treating their foreign
workers well.
One construction company in Manitoba
was recently audited by Service Canada.
Service Canada took issue with the company
having paid its construction workers
more than had been promised in the LMO
application. The organization took the position
that if the company had intended
to pay the workers such a high wage, then
it should have advertised the position at
that high wage and thereby encouraged
Canadians to apply for the jobs.
The same construction company was also
warned by Service Canada that its foreign
construction workers should not have
been doing off-season snow clearing since
the proper steps were not followed to get
approval for that extra activity in the LMO
application. So, construction companies
that want to recruit workers for construction
projects in the summer and snow removal
for the winter should make sure
that the advertising and LMIA application
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