75,000 migrant workers challenge EI rules and 'tied employment'
Ontario’s migrant farmworkers have won a major procedural victory in their fight over tied employment and access to Employment Insurance (EI), after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified a Charter class action against the federal government on behalf of tens of thousands of workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).
Justice Edward Morgan certified Palmer v. Attorney General of Canada, a class action on behalf of roughly 75,000 Caribbean and Mexican farmworkers who have worked in Canada under SAWP since 2008.
The lawsuit targets two core features of SAWP: “tied employment” provisions that bind workers to a single employer, and what the plaintiffs describe as “the systematic exclusion of SAWP workers from Employment Insurance (EI) benefits despite being required to pay EI premiums.”
The plaintiffs allege that class members “can spend the majority of their working lives contributing to the Canadian economy, while being denied the benefits, rights and entitlements accorded to comparable workers, including Employment Insurance (EI).”
“Class members can spend the majority of their working lives contributing to the Canadian economy, while being denied the benefits, rights and entitlements accorded to comparable workers, including Employment Insurance (EI),” said a post by Goldblatt Partners, which is representing the workers.
“The claim estimates that Canada has collected hundreds of...
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