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Ethical Recruitment Statement Using Employment Agencies Able Industrial Trades Specialties Oil & Gas Employment In-situ Oil Sands Jobs Heavy Equipment Employment Construction EmploymentUsing Employment Agencies
If employers decide to use employment agencies to assist them in the activities of recruitment of foreign workers, they need to be aware of provincial regulations related to this industry.
The following are frequently asked questions about employment agencies:
1. Do employment agencies have to be licensed to do business in Alberta?
2. Why does the province license employment agencies?
5. What fees can employment agencies charge workers?
6. What fees can employment agencies charge the companies that they are recruiting for?
Do employment agencies have to be licensed to do business in Alberta?
Businesses are required to be licensed by Service Alberta. Regardless of where they are located, if they help employers in Alberta find employees, help employees find work in Alberta, or evaluate or test people for employers seeking employees. Under the Fair Trading Act, all businesses are required to have an Employment Agency Business License, including employment or recruitment agencies.
Why does the province license employment agencies?
The province licenses employment agencies to prevent problems in the marketplace.
Sometimes employment agencies charge foreign workers a job placement fee but fail to provide the promised
jobs or fail to meet contractual requirements. The province introduced the legislation by establishing
regulatory guidelines to prevent or reduce the potential for misrepresentation, fraud or exploitation of workers.
What are the rules on licensing employment
agencies that are based in other provinces,
but are recruiting workers for Alberta companies?
The province licenses employment agencies to prevent problems in the marketplace.
Sometimes employment agencies charge foreign workers a job placement fee but fail to provide the promised
jobs or fail to meet contractual requirements. The province introduced the legislation by establishing
regulatory guidelines to prevent or reduce the potential for misrepresentation, fraud or exploitation of workers.
What are the rules on licensing employment
agencies that are based in other provinces,
but are recruiting workers for Alberta companies?
If the employment agency is acting on behalf of employers hiring for positions in the Province of Alberta, the agency must be licensed under the Alberta Employment Agency Business Licensing Regulations, which follows the regulations of the Canadian Fair Trading Act.
How, if at all, do those rules vary
if the company is recruiting temporary foreign workers overseas for an Alberta company?
The regulations apply to any employment agency securing employees for positions in Alberta. They must be licensed under the Alberta Employment Agency Business Licensing Regulations.
What fees can employment agencies charge workers?
The regulations apply to any employment agency securing employees for positions in Alberta. They must be licensed under the Alberta Employment Agency Business Licensing Regulations.
Employment agencies may charge a fee for services provided, relating to the preparation of a resume, but the agency cannot require a person to purchase these services as a condition of the agency's job placement services. If the agency charges fees for a resume, these must be clearly indicated and visible in their business premises and in the contract with their client.
What fees canemployment agencies charge
the companies that they are recruiting for?
The regulation does not address the issue of fees or contractual requirements for the business clients of employment agencies. The fees are compatible with the common business practices in that industry.
How, if at all, are those fee-regulations different if an employment agency is recruiting
temporary foreign workers abroad for an Alberta company?
The regulation applies to all situations in which an employment agency is securing persons for employment in Alberta, securing employment for persons in Alberta or evaluating or testing persons for employers where the individual is in Alberta or the position is in Alberta. In other words, it does not make any difference if the agency is recruiting workers abroad - the rules are the same - workers cannot be charged a placement fee.
One Alberta company representative told me that a few companies from Toronto have approached him,
boasting that their claim to fame is that the company doesn't have to pay any fees.
The worker pays everything. Is that allowed under the Fair Trading Act?
No. That is a completely false statement. Employment agencies CANNOT charge job placement fees to workers, regardless where they operate in Canada.
An Ontario company which is not licensed in Alberta recruited a group of Romanian Temporary Foreign Workers for three Edmonton area companies. Someone at that company claimed his legal counsel told him that since he does not have an office in Alberta, he does not have to be licensed here? Is that the case? Please explain.
If the company is securing employment for Albertans or securing employees for positions in Alberta, it is required to be licensed in Alberta - and must provide a business address in Alberta.
Out-of-province employment agencies must provide an Alberta address for a person who can act for the business, such as a lawyer.
He also said that because he registered his employment agency business federally,
he can operate in any province? Is that true? Please explain.
There is no federal license registration of this nature as the licensing and registration of businesses is a provincial jurisdiction. He may be referring to a federal incorporation of his company. If that is the case, his company would also have to be registered provincially, in Alberta.
Incorporation does not provide the business with a license required to operate. The business would still be obligated to meet municipal or provincial licensing requirements.
