Toronto lawyer Louis Century of the law firm Gold Blatt Partners filed a Statement of Claim on behalf of Kevin Palmer, a Jamaican who worked at Amco, and former Tilray worker Andrel Peters of Grenada last month.
The Attorney General of Canada faces a half-billion dollar class action filed by two migrant farm workers who say their Charter rights were violated under the Seasonal Agriculture Workers Program and the Temporary Foreign Workers Program.
Palmer said he first arrived in Canada in April 2014 on an eight-month contract and worked for Amco for six years. The father of two worked with chemicals, and while safety equipment was available, he didn't receive training on how to use it. He continues to worry exposure to those chemicals has hurt his health.
Amco terminated Palmer's employment in October 2019. The company allegedly posted a notice in the workplace. He said Amco never paid him for working overtime, and although he paid into Employment Insurance, he was denied access to the program.
The action alleges the Canadian government has received $475-million in EI contributions from foreign agricultural workers over the past 15 years.
The action states that European workers were never vulnerable to the same abuses because their work permits were not tied to specific companies.
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