In Quebec, any business that has personnel leasing as even one of its activities needs a licence from the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). A separate CNESST licence is required to recruit temporary foreign workers for client businesses. In 2025, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the broad definition behind this regime in CNESST c. Association des entrepreneurs spécialisés en procédé industriel du Québec, 2025 QCCA 587. The Court explained that the key question is what the client is buying: a worker’s labour capacity, or a service.
This matters for immigration because CNESST and Quebec’s immigration ministry (MIFI) now share information and check whether employers of temporary foreign workers hold the right licence. IT consulting firms, engineering service providers and any company that sends staff to client sites should know which side of the line they fall on.
Key Takeaways
- Quebec’s Act respecting labour standards (LNT) prohibits operating a personnel placement agency without a licence, and prohibits a client business from using an unlicensed agency. The regulation took effect on January 1, 2020.
- A “personnel placement agency” is any person or entity with at least one activity of offering personnel leasing services, supplying employees to a client enterprise to meet its labour needs. A “temporary foreign worker recruitment agency” is any entity with at least one activity of offering a client services related to recruiting temporary foreign workers.
- In 2025 QCCA 587, the Court of Appeal reversed a 2022 Superior Court ruling that had struck down the placement agency definition. The definition stands.
- The Court distinguished personnel leasing (the client buys labour capacity and directs the work) from a contract for services (the client buys a result, and the provider directs its own staff), even when that staff works on the client’s premises.
- Agencies and their clients are solidarily liable for the pecuniary obligations owed to placed employees under the LNT, so the risk does not stay with the agency.
Two licences, two definitions
The Regulation respecting personnel placement agencies and recruitment agencies for temporary foreign workers (chapter N-1.1, r. 0.1) creates two licences:
Personnel placement agency. A person, partnership or other entity at least one of whose activities consists in offering personnel leasing services by providing employees to a client enterprise to meet its labour needs.
Temporary foreign worker recruitment agency. A person, partnership or other entity at least one of whose activities consists in offering a client enterprise services related to the recruitment of temporary foreign workers. These services can include helping workers through the process of getting a work permit.
Public bodies, municipalities and public transit operators are excluded. Everyone else is caught by what they do, not by what they call themselves.
What 2025 QCCA 587 decided
Several industry associations, including engineering, mining and industrial process contractors, challenged the regulation. In October 2022, the Superior Court declared the placement agency definition ultra vires, finding that it reached far beyond the specialized agencies the legislature had in mind.
On May 12, 2025, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeals, set aside that judgment and dismissed the challenges. Writing for a unanimous panel, Justice Bich held that the definition is neither invalidly vague nor outside the enabling statute. She accepted that it is not limited to specialized staffing agencies: it covers anyone who engages in personnel leasing, whether as a main or secondary activity, and even alongside other businesses (para. 121).
The CBA Immigration Law Conference panel on Quebec’s framework (May 30, 2026) summarized the practical result: no change to the definition is expected, and each business will need a fact-specific analysis.
Where the line falls: labour capacity versus service
The Court’s reasoning (paras. 114 to 121) gives the most useful guidance available:
- The object of the contract is the test. In personnel leasing, what the client obtains is the worker’s capacity to work. In a contract for services, the client obtains a service or a result, and the provider performs it through its own employees, whose work it controls.
- Location does not decide it. A service provider can perform on the client’s premises without becoming a placement agency. The Court’s cleaning example (para. 116): outsourcing all cleaning to a specialized firm is a service contract. Asking a third party to supply someone to fill in for a cleaner on parental leave is personnel leasing.
- Industrial maintenance teams sent to inspect and maintain a client’s machinery, working with the client’s staff, were described as a service contract, not leasing (para. 117).
- Engineering consultants sent to a client’s site to advise and supervise were, at first view, not leasing either, because the consulting firm and not the client controls the engineer’s work, even though the engineer collaborates with the client’s team (para. 118).
- “Activity” implies an organized economic activity carried out with some regularity (para. 120). The Court doubted that occasionally sending a paralegal on a training placement would count.
The Court declined to rule definitively on any particular business, because there was no evidence about specific firms (para. 119). Its reasoning also recorded the government’s position that an employer unsure whether it is covered can ask CNESST, and challenge the answer through the proper recourse if it disagrees (para. 98).
For a firm that places staff at client sites, the CBA panel’s rule of thumb follows directly: if you control the work, you are likely providing a service; if the client controls the work, you may be a placement agency.
What a licensed agency must do
Once licensed, an agency takes on specific obligations under the Regulation:
- Bond. An applicant for a placement agency licence must provide a $15,000 bond, which secures amounts owed to placed employees (s. 27).
- Written conditions for each assignment. The agency gives each employee a document describing working conditions, including the wage and the client’s name and contact details, plus CNESST’s information on workers’ rights (s. 22).
- Records for six years of client contracts, invoices, and hours worked by each placed employee (s. 22).
- No fees charged to workers for an assignment, the training it requires, or interview preparation, and no clause that restricts the client from hiring the worker more than six months after the assignment starts (s. 23).
- Licence number on invoices, contracts and websites (s. 21).
Recruitment agencies for temporary foreign workers face parallel duties, and three more that matter to immigration practice (ss. 24 and 25). They may not require a worker to hand over personal documents or property. They may not charge recruitment fees other than those authorized under a Canadian government program. Any of their staff who advise or represent people on immigration applications must hold the recognition required under Quebec’s regulation on immigration consultants. The federal rules on who may be paid to represent you are explained in our article on authorized immigration representatives.
Licences are issued without a term, but an annual fee applies and is indexed each January. Confirm the current amount with CNESST.
Why client businesses carry risk too
Three statutory rules put the client in the frame:
- No dealing with unlicensed agencies. The LNT prohibits a business from using a placement agency that does not hold a licence (s. 92.6 LNT, as described by the Court at para. 25).
- Solidary liability. The agency and the client that uses a placed employee’s services are solidarily liable for the pecuniary obligations under the LNT and its regulations (s. 95, second paragraph). The employee can recover the full amount from either.
- Equal pay. An agency may not pay a placed employee less than the client’s own employees doing the same tasks in the same establishment solely because of employment status (s. 41.2 LNT).
The immigration link
The CBA panel described increased information-sharing and enforcement between CNESST and MIFI, including checks on an employer’s compliance with provincial labour standards and on whether it is registered as a temporary foreign worker placement agency. For a Quebec employer hiring through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, labour standards and immigration compliance are now one file.
The panel also noted that MIFI’s model employment contracts incorporate the caps in section 6 of the Regulation respecting labour standards on what an employer may charge for meals and accommodation it must provide. Those amounts are indexed; check CNESST’s current figures before drafting.
For the federal side of employer obligations, see our employer immigration compliance guide and our overview of hiring a foreign worker through an LMIA. Quebec workers waiting on permanent selection should also read our article on the Quebec PSTQ work permit public policy.
FAQ
Does sending my employees to work at a client’s office make my firm a placement agency?
Not automatically. The Court of Appeal said working on site does not decide the question. What matters is whether the client is buying your employees’ labour capacity and directing their work, or buying a service your firm controls.
We are an IT consulting firm. Do we need a CNESST licence?
It depends on how each engagement is structured and who directs the consultant’s work. The CBA panel identified IT consulting and engineering service firms as the businesses most affected. If client managers assign and supervise your consultants’ daily work, get advice.
Can a recruitment agency charge a temporary foreign worker a recruitment fee?
Under section 25 of the Regulation, a licensed recruitment agency may not charge a temporary foreign worker recruitment fees other than those authorized under a Canadian government program, and may not require the worker to hand over personal documents or property.
Is the placement agency definition still being challenged?
The Court of Appeal upheld it on May 12, 2025. The CBA panel did not expect any change to the definition.
Ask us about your matter
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Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration law and IRCC/ESDC policy change frequently, and every case turns on its own facts. Reading this article does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Obtain advice tailored to your situation before you act.
Talk to a Canadian immigration lawyer. BridgePoint Law advises individuals and businesses across Canada — and on Canada–US–China cross-border matters — on employer compliance and foreign worker hiring. Book a consultation with our team in Toronto and Kingston. We work in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
