The Hot Chinese Kitchen, owned by the Hua-Mei Food Group Ltd. of Comox, has been fined $48,000 and banned from hiring temporary foreign workers for two years.
The company could not be reached for comment on Friday.
It is banned from hiring temporary foreign workers until March 4, 2025.
According to Immigration Canada’s website, the company committed three infractions:
- It did not give the inspector the documents asked for.
- The pay or working conditions did not match or were not better than what was listed on the offer of employment or the job was not the same as was listed on the offer of employment.
- The employer did not put in enough effort to make sure the workplace was free of any of the following: physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse.
Further details were not immediately available.
The Hot Chinese Kitchen is among close to 90 companies penalized this year for not complying with federal rules around temporary foreign workers and the international mobility program.
A wide range of businesses have been fined including restaurants, farms, trucking, building contractors, janitorial services, barbershops and more.
Fines this year range from a high of $258,000 and a five-year ban for a numbered company in Winnipeg to a low of $1,000 without any bans on hiring.
The employment-to-job vacancy ratio in Canada is at a historic low with a record tight labour market, Statistics Canada said in November. Many employers have been having a difficult time recruiting workers.
Last month, the federal government announced it was launching a economic mobility pathways pilot project to help employers hire skilled refugees and other displaced individuals.
It is focused on filling in-demand jobs such as nurse aides, personal support workers, software engineers, teachers, tourism and hospitality workers, and truck and delivery drivers.
