Alexandra Miekus - 28 November, 2020
The guide used to determine the wages of temporary foreign workers in Quebec will be modified on December 1, 2020.
Quebec employers who wish to hire temporary foreign workers will have to refer to the 2020 edition of the salary guide (Édition 2020 du Guide des salaires par professions présentés par intervalle, selon les quartiles au Québec). It is the 2018 edition that was used until now.
In its notice, the Ministère de l'Immigration du Québec also indicated that the changes could apply retroactively to work permit applications that were submitted before December 1, 2020, and are still being processed once the changes come into effect on that date.
Most temporary foreign workers (TFWs) intending to work in Quebec must submit a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application for review to the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration (MIFI) and to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
LMIAs received by the Quebec Ministry of Immigration are subject to a wage review. This step verifies that the wages offered to all TFWs correspond to the wage rate paid to Quebecers working in the same occupation and in the same geographic region.
To determine the salary, the Ministry indicates on its website that it considers only the guaranteed salary, which excludes overtime, tips, allowances, profit-sharing, bonuses, commissions and any other form of remuneration.
In the case where data is not available in the above-mentioned wage guide, the Québec Ministry uses the Government of Canada's Job Bank site as a reference. In such cases, the employer will be required to offer the median hourly wage for the region where the temporary job is located. Should the regional data not be available, the employer will have to offer the median hourly wage for the province of Quebec. If provincial data is not available, the employer must offer the median hourly wage for Canada.
The wage to be offered can never be less than the minimum wage rate in effect in Quebec.
When the Quebec government issues a positive LMIA, it also issues a Certificat d'acceptation du Québec (CAQ). The CAQ is a document that must be presented by a foreign worker to a Canadian border officer when entering the country to work.
Temporary foreign labour is particularly important for Quebec. It represents an added value for Quebec employers since the skills of these workers are often considered to be in short supply.
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