Where agency workers are brought in for temporary assignments, a
question may arise in unionized workplaces whether the temporary
workers are employees of the company, or rather employees of the
employment agency. If the agency workers are found to be employees
of the company that has brought in the temporary workers, then the
workers may be found within the scope of the applicable collective
agreement between the company and the union.
Arbitrators in Ontario have applied different approaches to
determine when workers provided by employment agencies are
employees of the company contracting them in, versus the employment
agency that assigned them. In the 2002 IKO Industries
decision ( [2002] O.L.A.A. No 1043 ((P.C. Picher)), the arbitrator
sought to clarify the test for identifying an employment
relationship in the face of a booming temporary worker market. In
that case, the arbitrator drew a distinction between workers
brought in to fill temporary work vacancies and
