LCP Contract Scares Canadian Employers Away Note: This article is about the changes in the Live-In Caregiver contract that the Philippine government is imposing on Canadian employers who wanted to sponsor a caregiver from the Philippines. It’s another article ====================== New LCP Contract Scares Canadian Employers Away Lately, there’s been a lot of media coverage on the Foreign Live in Caregiver Program (LCP). The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Toronto has outlined changes to the Employer-Employee contract for live in caregivers (LIC). The addendum to the contract imposes the following conditions on the employer: 1) employer pays the 2-way transportation to and from Canada; 2) The employer pays for the employee’s health coverage before the provincial health insurance applies; 3) termination of employment shall only be for cause; 4) in case of work-related death, cost of repatriation of remains to the Philippines. Two of these conditions 1) and 4) are NOT going to help caregiver applicants from the Philippines. In fact, it will discourage prospective Canadian employers to hire caregivers from the Philippines. I won’t be surprised if Canadian employers stop hiring caregivers from the Philippines altogether. As it is now, applicants from the Philippines are disadvantaged because of the longer processing period of 1 to 2 years, compared to other countries of 2 to 6 months. If processed in Canadian Embassy in Manila, Canadian employers are required to provide additional documents such as proof of financial stability (T4’s or Notice of Assessments) and supplementary form which causes further delay and now this? I don’t see the logic behind the 2 way trip for caregivers. Caregivers come to Canada and don’t expect to return because they want to gain Permanent Residency after the completion of 24 months of full-time employment. They can apply within Canada. LCP is not the same as any other temporary worker program whereby the worker is expected to leave at the end of her employment contract. The other condition, ” in case of work-related death the employer will bear the cost of repatriation of remains to the Philippines.” Too much of a liability imposed on the employer. A better and smarter alternative is to buy a life insurance policy for the caregiver. A typical employer of a caregiver is a young family, mom and dad working, with 2 or 3 children, struggling to work, raise a family, pay for their mortgage, pay bills and they just want to have a reliable, caring caregiver. Most Canadian families are not rich, they are not corporations. For the Philippine government to impose these conditions to Canadian families is unfair to employers. Private households, Canadian families, should not be treated the same way as business owners and corporations. I understand that these conditions are imposed to protect workers’ rights, but at what price? What good will it do? Canadian employers will prefer to hire caregivers from other countries. If the employer does not want to conform to these two conditions, paying for 2 way air fare and bearing the cost of repatriation of remains to the Philippines, meanwhile the caregiver in the Philippines had already gone through the process, had passed the interview, had passed her medical, her visa in her hand, went to POEA for exit clearance and denied because her employer did not signed the addendum contract, the employer will not be the one to suffer the blow of being denied, the caregiver will. The only message that the Philippine government is conveying to Canadian employers is this: Hiring caregivers from the Philippines is high risk and costly! The advocacy groups demand that the Live in Caregiver Program (LCP) be scrapped. Before any of these changes to the LCP can be implemented, there are other critical factors that need to be considered. Let’s look at the Foreign Live in Caregiver program. Why does it exists? According to Human Resources Development Canada, when a Canadian employer’s need is for the employee to live with the family, as opposed to live out, the government recognizes the difficulty of finding a nanny or a caregiver already in Canada to “live-in”, thus, allowing a foreign worker to fill the job. If the employer does not need the caregiver to “live-in”, there is no need to hire a foreign caregiver, as the live out job can be easily filled by a Canadian resident, and the application to hire a foreign caregiver will be refused. The LCP is a temporary worker program with a special provision that would allow a foreign LC to apply for permanent resident status, within Canada (no need to exit) as long as she can prove 24 months of full-time live in caregiver employment within three years of arrival in Canada. How does one prove 24 months of employment? By providing the following: 1)Record of Employment from all previous employers; 2) T4’s, 3) Notice of Assessments and 4) Employment certificates. When the application for Permanent Resident is submitted to Case Processing Centre in Vegreville, Alberta, an immigration officer would look closely that she met the 24 month requirement of full-time live-in caregiver employment. If the officer could not identify clearly that the applicant had completed 24 months, a letter would be sent out to the applicant to provide more proof . If the applicant failed to provide additional proof, the application would be refused. It’s very clear, a foreign live in caregiver MUST complete 24 months of employment within 3 years from arrival and failure to prove it can result to refusal. Definitely, the foreign LCP is flawed and needs major changes. My concern is by demanding that the foreign caregivers come as Permanent Residents, what effect would this have on the Immigration requirements? Right now, there are 4 requirements for a live in caregiver applicant: 1) Grade 12 Equivalency (72 units taken from the foreign country) 2) English or French proficiency 3) One year (PAID) work experience as a caregiver or 6 month full-time caregiver training certificate and 4) An employment contract. Then, upon arrival in Canada, as long as they complete their 24 months of full-time caregiver employment, they may apply for permanent resident status. The live-in caregiver program, compared to other immigration programs still is the least costly, $150 for application, faster to process, 2 to 18 months, than an application for Federal Skilled Worker, a permanent resident status application, which may take anywhere from 4 years to 6 years to process. If the Live in Caregiver Program is scrapped and replaced by another program under the Permanent Resident category, the requirements may be higher and more difficult to pass. Permanent residency upon landing, sounds good but, at what price? Acquiring it could also mean higher standards, higher fees and longer processing time. What I would like to see is an issuance of a work permit for a foreign caregiver that is good for three years, the worker can change employers as long as it’s within the caregiver job, without applying for renewal of work permit every time she changes employer, the live in condition should be optional, instead of 24 month requirement, make it 12 months. As long as the foreign caregiver, live-in or live-out can prove 12 months of caregiver job, within three years, she is eligible to apply for Permanent Resident status. I support efforts to fight against abuses and exploitation. I also support the crackdown on agents and recruiters who make false promises and exploit Filipinos. We need to continue to create awareness on the problems and issues facing Filipino foreign workers. What other measures can we take to bring positive changes? It begins with education. The Philippines Overseas Labor Offices in Canada, the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine consular offices can take a more active role in educating Filipino temporary workers. Use the Media – newspaper, TV, send out brochures to temporary workers on where to get help if they are being abused. When they arrive in any Canadian airport, they should be given a “Welcome to Canada” information package that includes: The Philippine Embassy, the Philippine Consular offices in Canada, locations and phone numbers, the various Canadian government offices, Service Canada, Immigration Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency, the provincial Ministry of Health offices, the RCMP, Provincial Police headquarters and phone numbers, non-government or non-profit organizations who advocate for rights and equality of new immigrants and temporary workers. They should be instructed to report, email or call the Philippine Embassy and register their name, address and contact number, so they can be easily contacted. There should be ongoing seminars, here in Canada, especially in provinces where there are a lot of Filipino foreign workers, to explain to them the temporary worker program, what would happen at the end of the second year. Who must leave, and who can stay? Where can they go or who can they talk to if they are being exploited? What assurance can you give them that if they expose the agent that scammed them that they would not face deportation? What are their rights and obligations. In Alberta, the provincial government conducts seminars on Hiring Foreign workers for the employers, recruiters and consultants. Who is giving seminars to the foreign workers? Everyone else is getting valuable information, except temporary workers. Here are some ways that the Philippine government agencies in Canada can guide, support and protect Filipino foreign workers: 1) by implementing programs to help and educate Filipino temporary workers, 2) by pushing for regulation of employment agencies in all provinces, especially Ontario, similar to Alberta’s Fair Trading Act, that prohibits agencies from collecting placement fees from employees and 3) registration of employment agencies in Canada that recruit Filipino workers with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office. There are no easy solutions to issues and problems facing Filipino temporary workers and Live in Caregivers. Talking about it, creating awareness is just the beginning. Making demands and call for changes certainly grab people’s attention and build momentum. An open forum, attended by all parties concerned : Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Philippine Overseas Labour Office, advocacy groups for foreign workers’ rights, immigration professionals – lawyers and consultants, caregivers, employers and temporary workers. This an effective way to open up communication and work towards finding constructive solutions
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 14:39:44 +0000
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