Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER JANUARY 2019 12 NEWS CAREpath is the only Canadian Health Care navigation program of its kind offered in Canada. We have extensive experience in navigating Canadians through the health care system. Cancer Assistance Seniors' Care Assistance HealthCare Assist Your Wellness Partner typically require much lower lev- els of education to perform their roles. And those tend to also be the individuals who might not have the language skills or be su- per-familiar with the Canadian le- gal system who might have those issues accessing proper resources in the event that they did find themselves working for a non- compliant or abusive employer," said Martyn. "Instead, I feel government has cast a pretty wide net here and it's capturing not just those live-in caregivers and nursing home as- sistants but also the companies who are employing the tech su- perstars and university professors and the CEOs." New registry requirements With the new rules, foreign worker recruiters will have to be licensed and will be responsible for all work entrusted to their employees, partners, affiliates and agents, including those based in other countries, said Lee. "ey will be required to com- ply with the law and act with integrity and honesty. Licensed recruiters will be made public, on- line, so that employers and foreign workers will know which recruit- ers will meet the standards." Employers will be required to register with the B.C. govern- ment before moving ahead with an LMIA with the federal govern- ment or hiring a foreign worker under the International Mobility Program, he said. "Right now, because responsi- bility for the well-being of foreign workers is spread throughout many agencies and jurisdictions, it can be difficult to get the needed information to hold exploitive or abusive employers accountable. is registry will allow the gov- ernment of B.C. to allow which employers are hiring foreign workers." e registry — "a cost-free and simple online process for employ- ers," according to the government — will also provide tools for the government to gain new informa- tion that will help prevent abuse and provide practical and mean- ingful solutions, said Lee. "For example, if we learn of tem- porary foreign workers housed in unsafe living conditions, the reg- istry can serve as a hub to alert other ministries and agencies like (the Ministry of ) Health and WorkSafeBC. Further, the act al- lows the government of B.C. to proactively monitor, audit and investigate workplaces to ensure compliance with the law." However, it's not clear whether the B.C. government will be add- ing more staff to the Employment Standards Branch to deal with the extra workload from the new re- quirements, said Kael Campbell, president of Red Seal Recruiting Solutions in Victoria. "e current registration pro- cess for licensed recruiters is — let's just put it this way — anti- quated… currently there's 3,000 to 4,000 employment agencies that are being licensed by hand. I'll find it interesting whether or not they plan to modernize or produce any efficiencies, or just add regulations," he said. "It seems like there's politi- cians writing this legislation, but whether they're looking at how it'll be implemented, and how it'll slow down employers and compa- nies, is another thing." Previously, employers and recruiters were not allowed to charge a fee or expense to a for- eign worker for employment, and that still stands, he said. e new act also prohibits re- cruiters and employers from: producing or distributing false or misleading information relat- ing to recruitment services, im- migration, immigration services, employment, housing for foreign workers or the laws of B.C. or Can- ada; taking possession of a foreign national's passport; misrepresent- ing employment opportunities; or threatening deportation if there's no lawful cause. Complaints process changes Temporary foreign workers can now file a complaint with B.C.'s Employment Standards Branch. If a complaint is not resolved volun- tarily, the director of employment standards issues a determination and assesses mandatory adminis- trative penalties for every contra- vention of the act, said Lee. The director also works to collect outstanding wages and penalties. "When there's a complaint from one department, and the depart- ment that received the complaint doesn't have authority to handle that complaint, that complaint a lot of times is not dealt with, so this will be better because this will ensure the employer will be in full compliance with all their obliga- tions, not just under employment (standards) but also health and the immigration act." e changes make sense, and the Employment Standards Act does provide a lot of protection, but the gap really comes when somebody blames a problem on an overseas agent, or claims igno- rance of the current Employment Standards Act, said Campbell. "e biggest occurrence hap- pens in another country where it's very commonplace; in some countries, it's very common to pay for an overseas job." And if work permits are still tied to an employer, it may be dif- ficult for people to make a com- plaint, he said. "If somebody's status in Canada is temporary, their housing situ- ation is likely fairly temporary as well," said Campbell. "So if the process takes three months to make a complaint, will they have moved in that time? How do you guarantee some- body's protection, as it seems to do, from the current job when they don't have employment and they can't switch employers? It may be great to have this pro- tection for them, but you need a paycheque every few weeks to pay your rent." With the new rules, an individ- ual who has contravened the act may be fined up to $50,000 or face imprisonment for up to one year, while a corporation may be fined up to $100,000. However, there are supposedly people who will pay $80,000 for a job in Canada, he said, "and if you have 100 of those people or 50 of those people, that $50,000 is still pretty small." "It's good they've got the pro- tections, but the reality is if you're a temporary foreign worker mak- ing $15, $18 an hour in Vancouver, things can be pretty tenuous, and you wouldn't want to jeopardize that with hopes the government will protect you." Implications for employers Employers wanting to use the TFWP will have to register in Brit- ish Columbia, and retain records related to foreign workers for four years. But for those employers that are already following the rules, there won't be a big impact — aside from more effective enforcement mechanisms, said Quail. "I wouldn't expect to see a big change in demand (from employ- ers), just because there's lots of hoops to jump through already," she said. "This addition of an admin- istrative burden is probably not enough to dissuade people. I think people are only accessing (the program) if they perceive they re- ally need to," said Quail. "Because if you could hire Canadian work- ers, it's administratively so much easier." The paperwork required for international hiring is quite large, so adding another step in dealing with multiple federal levels — and now a provincial level — is oner- ous, especially for a small busi- ness, said Campbell. "But for a larger business that has a larger HR department, it would be OK." It's unlikely employers will be less inclined to use the program if they're already in compliance, said Lee. "ey're not going to put them- selves into any additional risk and the compliance obligation is not high because all they simply have to do is go through the registra- tion process," he said. "It's going to be large conse- quences for those employers who don't behave or play by the books." Employment standards will handle complaints TFWP < pg. 3 "Government has cast a pretty wide net and it's capturing not just live-in caregivers... but tech superstars and university professors and CEOs."

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