B.C. Judge Condemns Mac's Treatment of Temporary Foreign Workers
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled that Mac's Convenience Stores Inc. and two immigration agencies acted in an abusive and callous manner toward hundreds of temporary foreign workers recruited from abroad. Justice Sharon Matthews described the scheme as 'too obviously abusive to dismiss as simply careless' in her ruling, which was released on Friday.
Illegal Fees and Unfulfilled Promises
Justice Matthews has yet to determine the damages, but the companies could face millions in restitution to an estimated 880 temporary foreign workers. These workers were charged up to $8,000 each for the promise of jobs at Mac's convenience stores in Canada. The judge found that Mac's hired Overseas Immigration Services Inc. to recruit workers and handle paperwork under Ottawa's temporary foreign worker program. Overseas, along with a subsidiary and Trident Immigration Services Ltd., set up job fairs in Dubai, charging workers an initial fee of $1,500 to $2,000 and an additional $5,500 to $6,000 once visas and job offers were secured.
While Overseas argued these were lawful fees for immigration and settlement services, the judge disagreed, ruling them unlawful. She found Overseas and Trident liable for unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty toward all workers.
Workers Left Homeless and Unemployed
Some workers could receive higher damages because they arrived in Canada to find the jobs they were promised did not exist. The four representative plaintiffs testified that Overseas arranged jobs at Mac's, but they ended up unemployed and, in some cases, homeless. One plaintiff, Prakash Basyal, told the court he was working at a Baskin-Robbins in Dubai to support his family in Nepal. He was offered a full-time job at a store in Edmonton and received a work permit, but Overseas then told him he would work on a farm. After he refused, he was offered work at a bottle depot and sent to Lethbridge, where he worked eight hours a day, six days a week, without receiving the promised $11 per hour. He was later arrested by Canada Border Services Agency because his work permit did not cover Lethbridge. After time in a detention centre, he was bused to Vancouver and lived in a homeless shelter for three to four months before obtaining a new work permit in 2014.
Legal Implications and Next Steps
The class-action lawsuit highlights the exploitation of temporary foreign workers and the systemic issues within the recruitment process. Justice Matthews's ruling sets a precedent for holding companies accountable for such practices. The damages phase will determine the compensation owed to the affected workers, potentially totaling millions of dollars.
