#146

Erin Brandt is a co-founder of PortaLaw, a Vancouver law firm which specializes in employment law.
Audience submitted questions that we discuss include:
1. Is it illegal for employers to not provide reference letters necessary for immigration purposes or to charge their employees for them?
2. Is it illegal for employers with foreign worker employees to not apply for LMIAs to try to extend their employees' employment?
3. Can employers distinguish between Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreign workers when hiring?
4. Can an employer not hire a foreign national or asylum claimant if they are likely to be deported?
5. Is it ok for an employer to ask if someone is an asylum claimant?
6. If an employer learns that an employee is without status - and the employee lied to them - can they legitimately refuse to pay the employee out for work completed during this time?
7. If in order to meet prevailing wage an employer increases the wages of all of their LMIA-based TFWs, is it discrimination to not also increase it for their permanent resident or Canadian employees?
We also discuss the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Imperial Oil Limited v. Haseeb, 2023 ONCA 364, upheld a Human Rights Tribunal decision that it was a breach of human rights for an employer to fire an employee because of their temporary resident status.