Foreign Worker Protection

• Author: Paul Wearing
• Profession: BA (Hons), MPA, LLB. Barrister & Solicitor
• Pages: 115-116

• 115

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Foreign Worker Protection

What You Should Know

Current Ontario legislation for the protection of the rights of foreign

workers, the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (Live-in

Caregivers and Others), 2009,1 will be repealed and replaced with the

Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009 as of 20 Novem-

ber 2015. The new law will expand protection of foreign nationals em-

ployed in Ontario as live-in caregivers to all foreign nationals employed

or attempting to f‌ind employment in Ontario pursuant to an immigration

or foreign temporary employee program. The expanded law will b e of

signif‌icance to the service industry and the construction indus try. It will

require employers and recruiters to provide foreign nationals belonging

to listed categories with information prepared and published by the Di-

rector of Employment Standards.

Currently, the law prohibits recruiters from charging fees to foreign

nationals either directly or indirectly. Furthermore the law protects the

listed categories of foreign nationals from intimidation by employers or

recruiters in response to asking about or asserting any rights under the

law. These rules will continue to apply under the amended law.