Proposed legislation from the Ontario government that would crack down on "unscrupulous" temporary help agencies is being welcomed by some Newmarket employment agencies.
“We are absolutely in favor of a licensing requirement provided that there are strong measures in place to ensure compliance and that firms that are operating unethically, illegally or are not meeting the licensing requirement are held accountable. It is these firms that are tarnishing the reputation of our industry,” Lorie Mason-Pitcher, president of HCR Personnel Solutions Inc., a GTA-wide firm in Newmarket focused on staffing in the automotive, manufacturing, production and labour sectors.
The province's announcement Monday that it would introduce licensing for employment agencies and recruiters to protect vulnerable workers and ensure fair competition in the area is supported by the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS).
“ACSESS strongly endorses the establishment of a licensing regime ensuring that all temporary help agencies comply with their legal obligations,” said Mary McIninch, executive director, government relations at the organization. “This initiative creates a level playing field and results in a fairer industry for (temporary help agencies) THAs, their clients and assignment employees alike. We applaud the government for taking a bold approach that includes enforcement initiatives against THAs that operate illegally and the client companies that use them.”
IS2 Workforce Solutions, a nation-wide employment agency with an office in Newmarket, said they feel the effects of these “unscrupulous agencies” every day.
“We do see this quite often and the way it affects our lives as a legitimate recruitment company is we have a lot of candidates who will call us… We constantly get candidates asking if we pay cash,” said Elizabeth Madsen, area vice-president at IS2.
According to the government, an inspection campaign focused on temp agency use in farms, retirement homes, food processing, and warehouses in 2020-2021 found that as of Oct. 1, 2021, more than $3.3 million was owed to workers and only half of it has been recovered.
The inspection also found issues among agencies with minimum wage, record keeping, misclassification, hours of work, public holiday pay, overtime pay and vacation pay.
Madsen said that illegitimate agencies will pay cash to their workers and often it’s not even minimum wage. This means they can offer companies a better deal to use their services.
“Where that affects our business so much is that we can’t compete with the kinds of markups that they’re getting because we do pay our workers legitimately,” she said. “I hope that [the legislation] helps because we have a lot of competition out there who don’t do the right thing and they do really exploit a lot of these workers.”
Amanda Peck, the regional manager for IS2 who oversees the Newmarket branch, agreed that the proposed plan would help businesses while also protecting workers.
“I look forward to it because we’re for the workers. We pride ourselves on health and safety and quality. We want the opportunity to be able to represent and provide meaningful employment to our local community and these agencies kind of prevent us from having that opportunity,” she said. “We want what’s best for everything and abide by employment standards and laws and we pride ourselves on that, so it would be nice to see that we’re in an equal playing field.”
However, they would like to see it happen sooner.
“This is long overdue. I wish it wouldn’t take effect as far out as 2024. I wish this would be something that would happen tomorrow,” Madsen said.
The Ontario government said that if the legislation is passed it could be in effect by 2024.
It would mean that temp agencies and recruiters are vetted before being licensed and would provide a letter of credit that could be used to pay owed wages to their workers.
The government has also proposed a dedicated team of officers that would investigate and crack down on agencies operating illegally. Those found to be working without a licence and the employers who use them could face penalties under the new legislation, if passed.
