Section 14 – Employer’s duty to keep records
Employer’s duty to keep records - s. 14(1)
An employer of a foreign national who is employed pursuant to an immigration or foreign temporary employee program is required to record the following information:
- The name of any person to whom the employer made a payment for finding a foreign national for employment or for finding employment for a foreign national;
- The address of any person for whom the employer made a payment for finding a foreign national for employment or for finding employment for a foreign national;
- The date of the payment;
- The amount of the payment; and
- Other information prescribed by regulation.
This provision should be read with in conjunction with s. 14(2) which establishes how long the records must be kept and s. 14(3) which requires that all records be readily available for inspection by an employment standards officer.
At the time of writing, regulations have not been made under the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (EPFNA) prescribing other employment or additional information that must be recorded.
Records retention - s. 14(2)
Subsection 14(2) requires an employer to retain, or arrange for another person to retain, the required records for a period of seven years after the earlier of the following two events:
- The foreign national ceases to be employed by the employer pursuant to an immigration or foreign temporary employee program; or
- The employee becomes a permanent resident of Canada or a Canadian citizen.
The federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 and its regulations govern the process by which a person may be granted permanent resident status or Canadian citizenship.
It is the responsibility of the employer to record and retain information for record-keeping purposes. Where an employer makes an arrangement for another person, such as a bookkeeper or accountant, to retain the records, the employer’s responsibility to create the records is not removed.
This provision should be read in conjunction with s. 14(3) which requires that records be readily available for inspection by an employment standards officer, even where another person retains the records.
Availability for inspection - s. 14(3)
Subsection 14(3) is intended to prevent unnecessary delays in the production of an employer’s records during an investigation under EPFNA. The provision therefore requires the employer to ensure the records made under s. 14(1) are "readily available for inspection", even if the employer has arranged for another person to retain the records.
Where an employer has arranged for another person to retain the records, it remains the employer’s responsibility to make them readily available, upon the request of an employment standards officer.