Temporary foreign workers are getting injured or sick more and more often at work, but their claims are less often accepted than others by the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) .
The data obtained by The duty show that in 2022, nearly 30% of claims from these workers ended up in the “refusal” category of the CNESST, compared to 17% for workers in general, which corresponds approximately to the average of recent years.
These temporary migrants, particularly present in the agriculture, food processing and manufacturing sectors, made 5,648 claims last year. Among them, 424 were in progress at the start of 2023, and 1,683 had been “refused”, i.e. just under a third.
“Caution is in order” in reading these statistics, however, indicates a CNESST publicist. Without being able to specify how much, he says that some temporary workers choose instead to be compensated by the insurance scheme of their country of origin.
This public body in fact has forms called “option notices” signed, by which the workers renounce “all rights and any compensation whatsoever” if their request is accepted elsewhere, as indicated therein. It is then assumed that they return to their country of origin and approach the local authorities.
Refused for other reasons
This practice would only partly explain the more frequent refusals for these people from elsewhere. “Yes, it happens that people are not comfortable staying so they decide to leave to be surrounded by their family,” says Jill Hanley, professor at McGill University and scientific director of the SHERPA University Institute.
Rather, she noticed that claim requests are often refused because of the language barrier: “The employer will fill out the declaration, but afterwards, can the workers provide the evidence? Follow up with their doctor? If no one helps them, they lose. »
“Deadlines are often an issue, since requests can be submitted too late,” adds researcher Lucio Castracani, who is developing workshops that equip health network stakeholders.
As for the notices of option, these experts consider that the workers do not always sign them with full knowledge of the facts. “We are going to assure them that they can be followed from their country of origin, when it is very complicated, if not impossible”, continues Mme Hanley, who also co-founded the Immigrant Workers Center.
Specialists are often much rarer, not to mention that you often have to travel to town to see them, while many workers live in isolated rural areas: “Sometimes they don’t even have an address to receive all the documents. »
“It’s insidious on the part of the CNESST,” laments Michel Pilon, director general of the Network for the Assistance of Migrant Agricultural Workers in Quebec. The practice is questionable—even if it is provided for in law—because there is no compensation scheme for occupational injuries in most countries of origin of low-wage temporary workers in the agricultural sector. “We tell them “sign down”, the form is in French and we hurry them. It’s not always free and voluntary,” he says.