Section 15 – Recruiter’s duty to keep records
Recruiter’s duty to keep records - s. 15(1)
A recruiter of a foreign national for employment pursuant to an immigration or foreign temporary employee program is required to record the following information:
- The name of the foreign national to whom the recruitment activity relates;
- The amount of any allowable fees charged to the foreign national and the date and reason for payment (fees would be allowed only if prescribed by regulation);
- The name and address of each employer for whom he or she attempted to find, or found, a foreign national for employment pursuant to an immigration or foreign temporary employee program;
- The name and address of each employer with whom he or she attempted to place, or placed, a foreign national in employment pursuant to an immigration or foreign temporary employee program;
- The amount of money paid to him or her by an employer and the date and reason for payment; and
- Any other information prescribed by regulation.
This provision should be read in conjunction with s. 15(2) which establishes a duty to keep certain documents associated with charging an allowable prescribed fee, s. 15(3) which establishes how long the records must be kept, and s. 15(4) 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 allowable fees, or additional information that must be recorded.
Duty to keep documents - s. 15(2)
If a regulation was to be made allowing a fee under s. 7(2), s. 15(2) would require a recruiter who charged such a fee to retain any documents related to the fee, such as invoices and statements of account.
This provision would only be relevant if an allowable fee was prescribed. At the time of writing, no such regulation exists. At the time of writing, EPFNA prohibits recruiters from charging any fees to foreign nationals to whom EPFNA applies.
Records retention - s. 15(3)
Subsection 15(3) requires a recruiter to retain, or arrange for another person to retain, the required records and documents for a period of seven years after the recruitment services have been provided.
It is the responsibility of the recruiter to ensure the information in s. 15(1) is recorded and that this information and any documents described in s. 15(2) are retained, whether or not the recruiter makes arrangements for another person, such as a bookkeeper or accountant, to retain the records or documents.
This provision should be read in conjunction with s. 15(3) which requires that records and documents be readily available for inspection by an employment standards officer, even if another person retains them.
Availability for inspection - s. 15(4)
Subsection 15(4) is intended to prevent unnecessary delays in the production of a recruiter’s records during an investigation under EPFNA. The provision therefore requires the recruiter to ensure the records and documents required to be kept under ss. 15(1) and 15(2) respectively are "readily available for inspection", even if the recruiter has arranged another person to retain the records and documents.
Where a recruiter has arranged for another person to retain the records or documents, it remains the recruiter’s responsibility to make them readily available, upon the request of an employment standards officer.