The Federal Court has overturned sanctions against a New Brunswick lobster processor that had banned the company from using the temporary foreign worker program and had fined it hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In 2024 the federal government fined LeBreton & Sons Fisheries $365,750 and banned it from both the temporary foreign worker and international mobility programs for two years, citing a number of infractions around salaries, holidays, record keeping and failing to provide a violence-free workplace.
The company, which operates lobster processing plants in Grande-Anse and Val-Comeau, both in New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula, challenged the decision via a judicial review in Federal Court.
According to the December court decision, LeBreton employs up to 400 people during fishing season and started hiring temporary foreign workers in 2019 to deal with a labour shortage. From 2020 to 2023 it says the company employed between 50 and 90 such workers a year.
In an affidavit, company co-owner Kevin Lebreton said the original ruling, and the media attention around it, hurt the company’s reputation and made it difficult to recruit new local workers. He said a major U.S. customer wouldn’t buy from the firm, and he estimated the company’s 2024 losses at $3 million.
The workplace-violence allegation was made against a supervisor by a temporary foreign worker, according to court documents. LeBreton noted in its submissions that no formal complaint was ever filed against the person, who left the firm in August 2023. Court documents also noted the company’s policy on abuse and mistreatment was displayed in employee dining rooms and that there are signs throughout the operation urging workers to report violence and harassment.
The supervisor’s departure from the company and the existence of the signage were never presented to the assistant deputy minister of Employment and Social Development, who had issued the 2024 sanctions. As a consequence, LeBreton argued that the government’s decision lacked procedural fairness.
The court agreed and set aside part of the deputy minister’s decision for further review by the government. However, the court noted it’s possible a new decision-maker may come to the same conclusions during that upcoming process.
The government admitted during the court challenge that it had made an “unreasonable” decision when it said the company must make available to employees a guide on temporary foreign worker rights.
The court upheld other pieces of the original ruling involving salary, statutory holidays and record keeping.
