Hire a temporary foreign worker through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program - Wages, working conditions and occupations

3. Wages, working conditions and occupations

You must provide temporary foreign workers (TFWs) with the same wages and benefits as those provided to Canadian and permanent resident employees working in the same occupation.

TFWs working in a unionized environment must be paid the wage rate as established under the collective bargaining agreement.

If you plan to hire TFWs in non-livestock positions under National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes 80020, 80021, 82030 and 82031, you must consult the streams for high-wage or low-wage positions to determine the wage and get information on wage review requirements.

You must agree to review and adjust the wage of the temporary foreign worker to ensure it meets or exceeds, at all times, the wage rates outlined in the wage tables, or applicable federal/provincial/territorial minimum wage rates, whichever is higher.

• Apiary products
• Bovine
• Dairy
• Duck
• Flowers
• Fruits, vegetables (including on-farm canning/processing of these products if grown on the farm)
• Grains
• Horse
• Maple syrup
• Mink
• Mushrooms
• Nursery-grown trees (including Christmas trees, greenhouses/nurseries)
• Oil seeds
• Pedigreed canola seed
• Poultry
• Seed corn
• Sheep
• Sod
• Swine
• Tobacco

Employers offering a wage that’s below the prevailing wage rate will be considered as not meeting the labour market factor for the assessment of wages. Therefore, they’ll receive a negative Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

Working conditions

Canadian law protects all workers in Canada, including TFWs. The exploitation of a TFW is considered a violation of Canadian laws and human rights.

Employers must:

• pay workers for all work (including overtime, where required by law)
• provide workplace safety insurance
• offer TFWs the same benefits as other workers, and
• not take the TFWs identification

Employment in most occupations is covered under provincial/territorial legislation that deals with labour and employment standards, such as hours of work, working conditions and termination of employment. In fact, every province/territory has a Ministry of Labour that can provide information to assist employers and TFWs with questions or issues related to work.