Between 2023 and 2024, eight workers filed complaints with ministry over hiring for Canadian Tire store in Ontario.
Two Alberta-based companies are appealing an Ontario Ministry of Labour decision that found they unlawfully charged temporary foreign workers fees for job placements at a Canadian Tire store.
Ontario has ordered Allison Jones Consulting Services and AJ Immigration Group to repay nearly $165,000 to temporary foreign workers. The repayment orders were issued in mid-May.
The Ministry of Labour found that recruiter Allison Jones and her two businesses charged workers between US$7,900 and US$12,000 to secure work permits and jobs at a Canadian Tire location in Toronto, according to a previous report from The Globe and Mail.
None of the workers were aware at the time that charging recruitment fees is unlawful. Between 2023 and 2024, eight workers filed complaints with the ministry over how they were hired to work at the Canadian Tire store in Etobicoke.
The ministry had earlier fined Jones $2,000, equivalent to $250 per worker.
"We trust the appeal process and are committed to a fair and accurate resolution based on a complete review of the facts," said Jones, according to a CBC report.
The federal government has previously banned a number of employers from accessing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
‘Businesses functioned as one’
Jones previously stated that the decision was made “in error” and that she operated lawfully because her businesses were separate entities, with fees charged by the immigration consultancy, AJ Immigration Group.
However, employment standards officer Charles Beauparlant concluded that the companies operated as a single entity. In his ruling, he cited shared management, overlapping staff, and coordinated operations.
“It does not change the fact that both businesses functioned as one comprehensive and unified business,” said Beauparlant.
Beauparlant found that AJ Immigration Group was also involved in the recruitment process, with workers paying in stages during hiring. He concluded the dual structure was used to obscure the recruitment fees charged to workers, a practice not permitted under federal or Ontario law, according to the report.
Among the complainants was Rowell Pailan, who said he paid US$7,900 to secure a position as a stock clerk supervisor. While he initially received the contracted wage, he told CBC News that his pay was later reduced, leaving him unable to meet his financial obligations.
Pailan was awarded $10,655 in Canadian funds—the equivalent of his original payment plus a 10 per cent administration fee. He said the decision was a major relief. “I [was] so happy and teary-eyed, because finally I got justice,” he told CBC.
In Prince Edward Island, the first phase of the province’s Temporary Foreign Workers Protection Act took effect on April 1.
