The Mandatory Employment Contract

The Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) requires the drawing up of an employment contract between an employer and the live-in caregiver. This is a legal requirement of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Such a contract must outline the terms and conditions of employment. In addition, the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville, Alberta (CPC-V) must receive this employment contract as part of an application for a new work permit or a work permit renewal under the terms of the program. Both the live-in caregiver and the employer would need to sign this employment contract.

The employer would need to offer the live-in caregiver position on a full-time basis. In addition, all the terms and conditions outlined in the employment contract, would need to, by law, abide by various provincial or territorial employment standards and labour laws. The authorities will permit activities such as housework, cleaning or other similar domestic duties such as food preparation. However, these activities must represent a small proportion of the overall duties and be related to the duties of caring for the individuals. As such, these activities cannot serve as the primary duties of the live-in caregivers.

Situations could arise where Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada receives Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) Labour Market Opinion (LMO) applications on or after April 01, 2010. For all work permit applications based on these Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) receives, the signed written employment contract between employers and their live-in caregivers would need to demonstrate that all Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) have been met. This includes meeting the requirements concerning the inclusion of descriptions of:

• The mandatory employer-paid benefits including:
• The transportation to the location of work in Canada
• The medical insurance coverage provided from the date of the live-in caregiver’s arrival until the caregivers are eligible for provincial health insurance
• The workplace safety insurance coverage applicable for the duration of the employment and,
• All recruitment fees, including any amounts payable to third party recruiters or agents that the employer hires, that the live-in caregiver would have otherwise needed to pay
• The various job duties that clearly demonstrate that the employee’s primary duty will involve live-in caregiving
• The hours of work
• The wages
• The accommodation arrangements including the room and board (where applicable)
• All holiday and sick leave entitlements and,
• The termination and resignation terms

The website of Service Canada provides a template for a valid Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) employment contract. Employers and live-in caregivers could refer to this contract template without any obligations. However, it is worth mentioning that all employment contracts would need to contain the information and clauses specified in the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) employment contract template. In addition, any additional provisions must not conflict with any provincial or territorial labour laws and employment standards.

It is worth highlighting that employers and live-in caregivers could formulate employment contracts in alternate contract formats. However, this could delay the processing of the Labour Market Opinion (LMO). This is because Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada officers would need to carry out a thorough comparative assessment for determining if the contract complies with all the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) requirements.

Note:

• For live-in caregivers in Quebec, the Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés Culturelles (MICC) has its own specific employment contract template
• This template reflects the Quebec provincial requirements under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP)
• Interested individuals would need to visit the website of Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés Culturelles (MICC) for going through this Quebec employment contract template