Migrant farm workers are taking Ottawa to court over EI. Here’s why.

Should seasonal farm workers in Canada be eligible to claim employment insurance benefits while in their home countries between agricultural jobs?

A new proposed class-action lawsuit is arguing that the way the federal government’s seasonal agricultural worker program is currently laid out deprives migrant workers of rights and benefits.

The lawsuit, filed by two migrant farm workers, says the most acute way in which visa restrictions affect migrant workers is employee insurance (EI) and that while temporary migrant agricultural workers pay EI premiums, like any worker in Canada would, they are not able to claim insurance benefits when they most need it – when they have left Canada in between seasonal farm work.

The statement of claim, which was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last month, estimates that going back the last 15 years, the federal government owes damages worth $500 million to migrant farm workers.

In addition to being required to leave Canada every year and re-enter during growing season, migrant agricultural workers are also tied to specific employers. A tied work permit means they cannot quit their job and work for another employer except under exceptional circumstances, such as abuse.

According to the claim, the tied work permits that are at the root of the matter were “motivated by overtly racist policy objectives.”

“It’s set up in such a way that the government reaps hundreds of millions of dollars in premiums from these workers and never has to pay any regular benefits to them. And so, the government has been unjustly enriched over the years to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Shane Martinez, one of the lawyers representing the workers.

An Employment and Social Development