Public naming of employers for contraventions and violations under the Canada Labour Code and related regulations

On this page

• Public naming of employers
• Prosecutions
  • Successful prosecutions under Part II of the Code since 2014
• Payment orders filed in the Federal Court of Canada
  • Employers with payment orders filed in the Federal Court of Canada
• Administrative monetary penalties
  • Employers who received administrative monetary penalties

Public naming of employers

The ability to publish employer information is based on:

• the authorities in the Canada Labour Code (Code) and Administrative Monetary Penalties (Canada Labour Code) Regulations, and
• publicly available information

The Labour Program will publish:

• successful prosecutions under Part II and Part III of the Code
• the filing of payment orders in the Federal Court of Canada under Part III of the Code, or
• administrative monetary penalties imposed on employers under Part IV of the Code

Public naming encourages employers to comply with the Code in order to maintain a good reputation. It also raises awareness among current and potential employees of employers who do not comply with the Code.

Prosecutions

The Labour Program may prosecute if there are:

• serious offences, or
• cases where other compliance and regulatory tools have been unsuccessful at convincing the employer to comply with the legislation

Prosecutions demonstrate to federally regulated employers and Canadians that serious violations of the following are unacceptable:

• Part II of the Code, and associated regulations that apply to workplaces with off-board or on-board employees. This includes those enforced by the Labour Program, Transport Canada, and Canada Energy Regulator:
  • Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations
  • Maritime Occupational Health and Safety Regulations
  • Aviation Occupational Health and Safety Regulations
  • Onboard Trains Occupational Health and Safety Regulations
  • Oil and Gas Occupational Health and Safety Regulations
  • Policy Committees, Work Place Committees and Health and Safety Representatives Regulations
  • Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations
• Part III of the Code, the Canada Labour Standards Regulations and other associated regulations

Between 2010 and May 2021, 40 out of the 45 cases, where charges were laid under Part II of the Code, resulted in a guilty plea or conviction. This represents a success rate of 89%.

For more information on criminal liability visit: Criminal liability for workplace deaths and injuries - Background on the Westray Law

Successful prosecutions under Part II of the Code since 2014

The following successful prosecutions are ordered by date on which information on a prosecution case is public:

• Neptune Bulk Terminals Ltd. (May 2021)
• DP World Fraser Surrey GP Inc. (April 2021)
• Road Runner Prime Logistics (April 2021)
• Toronto Tank Lines (April 2021)
• Air Canada (August 2020)
• Purolator Inc. (July 2019)
• Port of Dalhousie Inc. (June 2019)
• La Meunerie Milanaise Inc. (January 2019)
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – Moncton (January 2018)
• Canadian National Railway Company (CN) – Gutah Camp (April 2017)
• Don Anderson Haulage Ltd. (October 2016)
• Canada Einwechter Limited (October 2015)
• Canada Steamship Lines / V. Ships Canada (October 2015)
• Miller Shipping Limited (Water Transport) (May 2015)
• Gil Soucy Trucking (March 2015)
• United Parcel Service Canada Ltd. (UPS) (July 2014)
• Ken Johnson Trucking Ltd (December 2014)
• Services de Quai Fagen Inc. (November 2014)

Information related to successful prosecutions since 2014 will remain on the Government of Canada website indefinitely.

More information on successful prosecutions may also be available from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada website.

Payment orders filed in the Federal Court of Canada

A payment order is a legal document and enforcement tool that the Labour Program issues to an employer or a director of a corporation. It is issued when voluntary attempts to obtain the employer's compliance for recovery of wages and other amounts owed to an employee have failed.

If a payment order to an employer is not complied with, an employee can request that the Labour Program file the payment order issued to the employer in the Federal Court of Canada. This means that the order has the same force and effect as if it were a judgement obtained in that Court.

Public naming of employers with payment orders that have been filed in the Federal Court occurs when 1 of the following 3 criteria are met:

• payment orders filed in Federal Court are valued at $5,000 or more
• 2 or more payment orders to an employer filed in Federal Court totalling $5,000 or more in an 18 month period, or
• at least 3 payment orders to an employer filed in the last 18 months totalling less than $5,000. The Labour Program will deal with these on a case-by-case basis to address repeat non-compliance

The published information will remain available on the Government of Canada website for 2 years, after which the Labour Program will remove it from the site. The Labour Program will archive information which has been removed and it may be available through an Access to Information request.

An employer can request that the Labour Program remove their information from the website by paying the payment order amount and contacting the Labour Program toll free at 1-800-641-4049. The Labour Program will deal with requests for removal on a case-by-case basis.

Employers with payment orders filed in the Federal Court of Canada

The publishing of payment orders filed in the Federal Court of Canada began in February 2019. Here is a list of employers with payment orders filed in Federal Court:

Administrative monetary penalties

Part IV of the Canada Labour Code (Code) provides for:

• Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs), and
• the public naming of employers who have committed a violation under Part II (Occupational Health and Safety) or under Part III (Labour Standards) of the Code or the related regulations

The classification of violations under Part IV range from A to E-type violations.

Naming will only occur for a B to E-type violations. Naming will occur once the review and/or appeal processes are complete, if applicable.

For Occupational Health and Safety, the Labour Program bases the violation classification types, in general, on the level of risk to employees' health and safety.

For Labour Standards, the Labour Program bases the violation classification types, in general, on the severity and impact on employees' working conditions, which affect their lives and livelihood.

The Labour Program will remove the employer's name and related information 2 years, after the AMP is paid and after confirmation of compliance with the provision that gave rise to the AMP.

Employers who received administrative monetary penalties

The following list of employers have received a notice of violation (the legal instrument used to impose an AMP) for violating Occupational Health and Safety and/or Labour Standards provision(s) of the Code:

Related links

• Administrative monetary penalties (Canada Labour Code) regulations
• Administrative monetary penalties Interpretation Policy Guideline
• Employer compliance with federal labour standards
• Occupational health and safety in federally regulated workplaces
• Occupational Health and Safety and Compliance