Self-employed

Is anyone interested in PRPPs?

June 26, 2015 Employer Advisor, McCarthy Tétrault LLP Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Wages and Compensation

A number of financial institutions and other providers are now offering pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs) and voluntary registered savings plans (VRSPs), the PRPP’s Quebec equivalent. Except for VRSPs, which are mandatory for employers who don’t offer pension plans or other retirement savings plans such as group registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), how popular are PRPPs likely to be?

Employer contribution, employment law, group registered retirement savings plans, mandatory nature of VRSPs, pension plans, pooled registered pension plans, PRPPs, retirement savings plans, Self-employed, voluntary registered savings plans, VRSPs

Employee v. contractor

September 5, 2014 Stuart Rudner, Rudner Law Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Recruiting and Hiring, Source Deductions and Reporting, Wages and Compensation

The distinction between employees and contractors is an issue that will not go away. As I have written about in the past, there seems to be a trend toward giving workers the option of being treated as an employee or a contractor, though the reality is that this impacts nothing other than how they are paid.

Canada Pension Plan contributions, Canada Revenue Agency, common law, contractual arrangement in place, Employee v. contractor, Employee vs. self-employed, employment insurance premiums, employment relationship, Employment Standards legislation, independent contractor, paying taxes, potential liability with respect to unpaid taxes, Self-employed, Tax courts, the relationship was truly one of employer-employee, wrongful dismissal claim

Bills to enact Pooled Registered Pension Plans

May 16, 2013 Yosie Saint-Cyr Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Source Deductions and Reporting, Wages and Compensation

As anticipated, since the federal Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act came into force December 14, 2012, several provinces have followed suit and tabled legislation to implement the new kind of portable deferred income plan, which is designed to provide retirement income to workers and self-employed persons who do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement pension plan.

Benefits plans, deferred income plan, employer-sponsored retirement pension plan, pension plans, pensions, pooled registered pension plans, retirement, retirement income, Self-employed, small and medium-sized businesses

United States HR Law: ‘misclassifying’ employees as independent contractors

February 28, 2013 Occasional Contributors Human Resources, International HR Law, International Payroll, Payroll

Hiring an employee is an expensive proposition. Employees must be trained, they must be paid regardless of their productivity while they are employed, they have many rights under the law including workers’ compensation coverage, and terminating a difficult employee can be a costly nightmare. In an age of constantly increasing regulation, many businesses are turning to independent contractors to complete work for them because they usually need minimal training and can be acquired or dismissed as the situation warrants.

employee classifications, employee v. self employed, employer controls a worker’s behavior, employment law, financial aspect of the employment relationship, high degree of control, Hiring an employee, HR Law, independent contractors, Internal Revenue Service, Misclassifying employees, Self-employed, worker classification, workers’ compensation coverage

Not an employee? Not an independent contractor? How the courts define the hybrid

June 11, 2012 Matt Lalande Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources

Increasingly, Canadian courts have recognized an in-between class of agents that are not technically employees or not technically independent contractors. Over the past few years, our courts have come up with a hybrid category of agents called “dependent contractors.” These are independent individuals who work so closely with employers, and whose relationship status with their “employer” is so sufficiently long-lasting, as to allow them entitlement for reasonable notice.

contractor, dependent contractors, economic dependency, employee, employment law, employment relationship, hybrid position, independent contractor, intermediate or hybrid class, McKee v. Reid’s Heritage Homes Ltd., ontario, reasonable notice, Sarnelli (cob as East End Lock and Key) v. The Effort Trust Company, Self-employed, type of employee