When I was still in my home country, I signed a contract with my designated employer for two years, to start on my 1st day of work in Canada. ( June 29 2022 to June 29 2024 )
In August 2022, they asked for transportation fees which were not in our original contract, but to show gratitude and accommodation, my co-workers and I agreed to pay 80/cad each monthly, versus the 160 CAD/month the employers originally wanted to charge us for roughly a 16 km home-to-work ride 5 days a week. (We are 6 in the house).
Red flag # 1: The employers during our interview before signing my contract, said that transport is to be provided but they did not say that we have to pay for it.
By Sept 2022, I became PR but chose to stay to stay true to my original contract.
Red flag # 2: On October 10, 2023, the employers gave another memo of transportation increase from 80 cad/month to 120 cad / monthly, multiplied by 6 people in the house.
We were never consulted for the reasons for the increase same as last August 2022.
As a response, I emailed my employers that I do not agree with the increase since they did not uphold their reasons last August of 2022 which was to rent a third-party car rental service as our means of transportation.
I even put in my email to my employers that they cannot always change the contract unilaterally without consulting us.
The employers did not reply and deducted 120 CAD/month.
Because of the injustice of the situation, I felt more depressed and financially exploited, hence gave my notice of resignation.
I'm now left with one week before my last day and the employers said they have issues with me resigning.
Questions:
1. Do they have the right to recover the money they used for recruiting me even when my contract does not stipulate a penalty for breach of contract? And since my reason for leaving is them deducting money from our paycheck that is not in the original contract we signed? And even when the Employment Standards Act says that employers are prohibited from recovering recruitment and relocation fees from foreign workers? (I categorize myself as a foreign worker, as per my original entry point, since the contract was also signed before I landed in Canada)
2. The employers provided a house for us with a 2-year lease but did not follow the Standard Lease form of the province (We did not know then that the form we signed was not the standard lease form, but I think was accepted because both parties signed on it).
The lease says I can only give a notice of vacating the house after 24 months of my start date of working for them and with 3 months' notice.
Do they have the right to collect money from me for not finishing the lease even when I no longer work for them?
(the lease also does not say that I have to pay a penalty for leaving early, plus the provincial rule for employers hiring foreign workers is that employers cannot prevent the foreign worker from leaving an employer-provided accommodation for a private one - which they violated when they gave us the lease. I never knew about it until recently since the employers also did not discuss with us our rights as workers when we were having the onboarding.
In August 2022, they asked for transportation fees which were not in our original contract, but to show gratitude and accommodation, my co-workers and I agreed to pay 80/cad each monthly, versus the 160 CAD/month the employers originally wanted to charge us for roughly a 16 km home-to-work ride 5 days a week. (We are 6 in the house).
Red flag # 1: The employers during our interview before signing my contract, said that transport is to be provided but they did not say that we have to pay for it.
By Sept 2022, I became PR but chose to stay to stay true to my original contract.
Red flag # 2: On October 10, 2023, the employers gave another memo of transportation increase from 80 cad/month to 120 cad / monthly, multiplied by 6 people in the house.
We were never consulted for the reasons for the increase same as last August 2022.
As a response, I emailed my employers that I do not agree with the increase since they did not uphold their reasons last August of 2022 which was to rent a third-party car rental service as our means of transportation.
I even put in my email to my employers that they cannot always change the contract unilaterally without consulting us.
The employers did not reply and deducted 120 CAD/month.
Because of the injustice of the situation, I felt more depressed and financially exploited, hence gave my notice of resignation.
I'm now left with one week before my last day and the employers said they have issues with me resigning.
Questions:
1. Do they have the right to recover the money they used for recruiting me even when my contract does not stipulate a penalty for breach of contract? And since my reason for leaving is them deducting money from our paycheck that is not in the original contract we signed? And even when the Employment Standards Act says that employers are prohibited from recovering recruitment and relocation fees from foreign workers? (I categorize myself as a foreign worker, as per my original entry point, since the contract was also signed before I landed in Canada)
2. The employers provided a house for us with a 2-year lease but did not follow the Standard Lease form of the province (We did not know then that the form we signed was not the standard lease form, but I think was accepted because both parties signed on it).
The lease says I can only give a notice of vacating the house after 24 months of my start date of working for them and with 3 months' notice.
Do they have the right to collect money from me for not finishing the lease even when I no longer work for them?
(the lease also does not say that I have to pay a penalty for leaving early, plus the provincial rule for employers hiring foreign workers is that employers cannot prevent the foreign worker from leaving an employer-provided accommodation for a private one - which they violated when they gave us the lease. I never knew about it until recently since the employers also did not discuss with us our rights as workers when we were having the onboarding.
