Payroll news briefs

OTTAWA — The federal government is making a number of changes to its Temporary Foreign Worker Program in response to criticisms that employers were using the program to hire foreign workers instead of Canadians.

Jason Kenney, minister of Employment and Social Development, recently announced the government is restricting access to the program to ensure employers use it only as a last resort to temporarily fill acute labour shortages when qualified Canadian workers are not available. 

The government is also taking steps to make the program more transparent and to introduce tougher penalties for employers that do not follow the rules.

As part of the overhaul, Kenney announced that beginning next spring, Statistics Canada will conduct two new surveys. One will focus on quarterly job vacancies and the other will be an expanded national wage survey that will collect information from 100,000 employers.

The following are among the changes Kenney announced to the program:

• The government will use wage levels instead of the National Occupational Classification as the main criteria for administering the program since wages more accurately reflect occupational skill level and local labour market conditions.

• The fee for a labour market impact assessment, which employers need to use the program, will rise from $275 to $1,000 for every temporary foreign worker position an employer requests. 

• The government is replacing its current assessment tool, called labour market opinions, with a new labour market test that it says is more comprehensive and rigorous. Employers will have to provide more information, including the number of Canadians who applied for the available job, the number of Canadians interviewed and an explanation as to why they did not hire them. 

• The government is capping the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers who will be allowed to work in the country. Employers with 10 or more employees who apply for a labour market impact assessment will not be allowed to have more than 10 per cent of their workforce made up of low-wage temporary foreign workers. Temporary foreign workers who currently work at job sites that are over the cap will be allowed to continue working there until their existing work permits expire. The government is phasing in this change. As a result, employers currently above the cap that apply for a new labour market impact assessment will be capped at 30 per cent or frozen at their current level, whichever is lower. On July 1, 2015, the government will change the cap to 20 per cent. The 10 per cent cap will be fully in place as of July 1, 2016. 

• The government will not accept applications for the lowest-wage, lowest-skill, entry-level jobs in the food services, accommodation and retail trade sectors in areas where unemployment is six per cent or higher. 

• The duration of work permits for low-wage temporary foreign workers will be reduced from two-year to one-year periods.

• The government will change annex agreements with provinces and territories so  employers that used to bring temporary foreign workers to Canada using these agreements will now have to use the labour market impact assessment.

• Employers wanting to hire high-wage temporary foreign workers (with very limited exceptions) will now have to submit transition plans to show how they will increase their efforts to hire Canadians. 

• The government will increase the number of inspections it carries out so each year it will look at one-quarter of the employers that use the program. 

• Beginning in the fall, the government will impose fines of up to $100,000 (depending on the severity of the offence) on employers that do not follow the program’s rules. 

For more information on the changes, please refer to the Employment and Social Development Canada website at www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_workers/reform/highlights.shtml.

OTTAWA — The federal government has set up a panel of employer representatives to identify ways employers can support employees trying to balance work with caring for an ill or disabled loved one. The government announced its Canadian Employers for Caregivers Plan in the 2014 federal budget. Under the initiative, the government will work with employers to find “cost-effective workplace practices” to help workers who act as informal caregivers. 

The panel is being chaired by Kim Forgues, vice-president of HR at Home Depot Canada.

OTTAWA — Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $932 in April, up 0.5 per cent from $927.49 in March, Statistics Canada reports. The March numbers were revised from the previously reported $932.69. On a year-over-year basis, weekly earnings increased 3.3 per cent in April.

The increase in weekly earnings during the 12 months to March reflected a number of factors, including wage growth, changes in the composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of job experience, as well as average hours worked per week. Non-farm payroll employees worked an average of 32.9 hours per week in April, slightly more than the average of 32.8 hours 12 months earlier. 

ROSELAND, N.J. — ADP has won a best practices award for its products. Business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan presented ADP with its 2014 North America Product Line Strategy Leadership Award for Human Capital Management in July. The award is based on criteria such as having a broad product line that covers a wide range of HR functions.