A forestry firm as well as a stair and railings company both got hit in the pocketbook for allegedly violating foreign workers' rights by breaching federal regulations. 

Vancouver-based San Industries Ltd. received a $429,000 penalty and two-year ban from hiring migrant workers after it was found to have violated several federal regulations. 

According to a Business in Vancouver report, federal inspectors found the company had breached five sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, rules designed to protect temporary foreign workers. The inspectors found pay or working conditions did not match what San Industries had advertised.

The employer was also found not to be engaged in the business the workers were hired for and could not show that the job it had sought to fill matched its Labour Market Impact Assessment application—a document meant to prove no Canadian citizen or permanent resident is available or willing to do the job.

And in another violation, San Industries was found to have broken federal or provincial laws for hiring and recruiting employees.

In another case, a Surrey, B.C., stairs and railings company has been ordered to pay $44,718.49 to a foreign worker. The British Columbia Employment Standards Tribunal dismissed an appeal of a determination that found the employer misrepresented an employment opportunity, according to a report in HR Law Canada.

According to HR LAW Canada, the worker is a foreign national from India who arrived in Canada in October 2022 on an approved Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for an administrative assistant position. However, when she showed up at work on October 17, 2022, she discovered that no job was available to her.

She filed a complaint with the Director of Employment Standards alleging the employer had misrepresented available employment and charged prohibited fees for employment.

Following an investigation, a delegate of the director issued a determination on Oct. 1, 2025, finding the employer contravened British Columbia’s Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act and ordering it to pay $44,218.49 in compensation, including $6,778.49 in accrued interest, plus a mandatory $500 administrative penalty.