Caregivers in Canada and foreign caregivers who want to live and work in Canada as caregivers must have a written employment contract must be approved by the caregiver and the new partner. A formal agreement will ensure that the caregiver and the Canadian employer have a reasonable collaboration. This is the reason why the law requires both the caregiver and the employer to sign the caregiver employment contract.
The caregiver employment agreement must verify the fact that both the caregiver and the Canadian employer satisfy the requirements set by the Canadian Labour Market Impact Assessment for in-home caregivers. The caregiver employment contract must provide details of the following:
- The caregiver employment contract must state all advantages that the caregiver employer is required to offer the caregiver, such as:
- transportation from the caregiver’s current residence to the place of employment in Canada.
- starting from the day the caregiver arrives until the caregiver qualifies to be protected by provincial health insurance, the caregiver must have private medical insurance.
- the caregiver must have coverage for workplace safety throughout the duration of the employment term.
- the total cost of hiring the caregiver, including any charges the caregiver may be charged by an employer-hired recruiter or agency.
- Caregiver job responsibilities
- Caregiver working time
- Caregiver income
- Caregiver housing
- Caregiver leave benefits
- The employment contract must include information on how the job might come to an end. In other words, if the caregiver leaves or if the employer decides not to employ the caregiver, such as:
- how much warning the caregiver or the employer must provide to end the contract?
- how to negotiate and pay outstanding salaries, benefits, and damages.
- the status of any unpaid holiday leaves that the caregiver may have earned.
Service Canada has a standard contract template that can be used to build the caregiver employment contract. It is not necessary to build the caregiver employment exactly as the contract template by Service Canada. The caregiver contract just has to contain all necessary details and provisions in the template.
The caregiver employment contract must be included in your employer’s Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application. The caregiver’s work permit application must include a signed caregiver employment contract. The caregiver employment contract must correspond to the employment contract the Canadian employer presented along with the LMIA application. If they do not match, the caregiver must clarify any adjustments, such as a new start period.
It is important to note that the caregiver employment contract for the Province of Quebec is different. Therefore, the caregiver must use the Quebec contract template if the employer or the caregiver’s job is based in the region of Quebec.