Hire a worker without an LMIA: penalties for employers

Penalties

If we find you non-compliant, the penalty you’ll face mainly depends on the severity of the non-compliance.

You could face a number of penalties. Penalties are decided by a points system that looks at:

• the number of program violations
• how you did not comply
• your compliance history
• how serious the violation(s) is(are)
• the number of workers negatively affected by the violation(s)
• the size of the your business (for monetary penalties only)
• if you voluntarily disclosed information before we told you that you would be inspected

Possible penalties include:

• warning letters
• monetary penalties from $500 to $100,000 per violation
  • up to a maximum of $1 million over 1 year
• a ban from hiring temporary workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or the International Mobility Program for 1, 2, 5, or 10 years
• a permanent ban from hiring temporary workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or the International Mobility Program (for serious violations only)

We may also:

• refuse any pending work permit applications tied to your business
• revoke active work permits that are tied to your business

Your business will also be added to the public list of employers who have been non-compliant if you receive:

• a monetary penalty of any amount
• a ban of any length of time