Cpp Ei

This case illustrates the near randomness of the murky world of EI and CPP for small businesses and their employees or “independent contractors”.  The clear post-War policy reasons for having large employers collect income tax, EI and CPP for their employees and for denying business deductions to these staff break down where the employers are small businesses themselves.  The law in this area is highly… Read More »Symons v. M.N.R. 2015 TCC 270 (Hershfield) — Montessori daycare worker is independent contractor

[11]        Counsel for QCH put forward a good analogy which I will adopt.  When a developer hires various tradespeople to construct a building, the developer imposes on those tradespeople that they will not only construct the building but that they will do so in accordance with numerous provincial and municipal building codes and safety regulations and that, as necessary, they will provide reports confirming that they… Read More »Quinte Children’s Homes Inc. v. M.N.R. 2015 TCC 250 (Graham) — extensive policies and procedures imposed on workers don’t make them employees

This case involved French language teachers whom the appellant contracted to fulfill contracts with various corporate clients, including Agropur and CBC.  Classes were taught at the clients’ offices.  The appellant had no classroom.   “[30]        While Connor Homes is an Ontario case and the test in article 2085 of the Civil Code is subordination, which is different from the common law test, Grimard makes it clear[10] that, in determining whether or not there… Read More »Enseignants de langue anglaise de Montréal. v. M.N.R., 2014 TCC (Jorre)–Quebec civil law tests for employee-independent contractor cases are similar to tests for other provinces

Citing the FCA decision in 1392644 Ontario Inc. (cob Connor Homes) v M.N.R., 2013 FCA 85 (CanLII), Justice Woods stated the legal principles for employee-independent contractor cases: “‘The central question at issue remains whether the person who has been engaged to perform the services is, in actual fact, performing them as a person in business on his own account. As stated in both Wiebe Door and Sagaz, in making this… Read More »Porotti v. M.N.R, 2014 TCC Woods J. –If you try to overcome prior inconsistent statements by saying you lied, you damage your credibility and can lose your case

“[34]  The distinction between the two contracts [of employment and independent contractor] is the existence of a duty of subordination where one party has authority over the other, the power of control and the ability to supervise, to intervene and sanction the work executed by the other party. “[35]  By contrast, the independent contractor relation assumes that the parties to the negotiated contract transact and… Read More »Langlois c. M.R.N, 2014 CCI 257 (Tardif) — For EI & CPP, employment means subordination to employer’s control

This decision will interest dentists and dental hygienists.   It seems hard for hygienists in most dental practices to claim to be independent contractors.  But in this case the circumstances were tougher still: “[21]  …  The Appellants own lawyer drafted the Employment Letter, without input on the terms from the worker who saw no opportunity for negotiation.”   …  the document was laced with tailings… Read More »766743 Ontario Limited (Soben Mgmt Ltd.) v. M.N.R., (2014 TCC Bocock)  — Dental hygienist at dental clinic was an employee

You are injured in a car accident and generally can’t work despite numerous attempts to pursue work before the minimum qualifying period, but you teach yoga and earn about $75 per week.  Are you entitled to a disability pension under the Canada Pension Plan, R.S.C.?  You could be.   “[4]               Under subparagraph 42(2)(a)(i) of the Plan, a person has a “severe” disability if she is “incapable regularly of… Read More »D’Errico v. Canada (Attorney General), (2014 FCA Stratas) — CPP disability pension if you can’t pursue “with consistent frequency” or “regularly” any “truly remunerative occupation”

Subsection 145. (1) of the Employment Insurance Act says you must repay 30% of your EI benefits if your “income for a taxation year exceeds 1.25 times the maximum yearly insurable earnings”.  But what if your income was high only because you got a large disability settlement payment from “a workers’ compensation claim” for an earlier tax year?   Must you still repay the benefits? Justice Woods says yes.… Read More »Henson v. The Queen, (2014 TCC Woods) – CRA may clawback your EI payments because you got a large workers’ compensation benefit

Can a person be an employee even if he and his employer agree he’s an independent contractor?   Yes.   Mr. Mallon was a salesman for his employer.  Unlike many of these EI-CPP disputes, where the worker claims to be an employee but the business says he was an independent contractor, here the parties’ “description of the work, of the arrangement and the contract was… Read More »Mallon v. M.N.R., (2014 TCC C Miller) — You can be an employee even if you don’t want to

If you work for your family’s business for a reduced pay that unrelated people wouldn’t accept, are you entitled to EI?  No.   See Klassen v. M.N.R., (2013 TCC Woods)

Mr. Roby, a police officer, was hurt.  He applied for EI.  He qualified.  He gave the EI Commission direct deposit information for his CIBC account.  Then he declared bankruptcy.  So, he asked the EI Commission not to pay the money into his CIBC account (which the bankruptcy trustee now controlled) but to pay it elsewhere instead.  The EI Commission made a mistake; it paid the… Read More »Roby v. Canada (Attorney General) (2013 FCA Sharlow) — If the EI Commission pays you too much by accident, you must repay it; this case was an exception

“There have been many taxi driver cases in this Court and, not surprisingly, given how fact-specific this issue is, the cases go both ways. A careful review of the facts is critical.”  So says Justice Campbell Miller.  (Para. 1) This was another “independent contractor” case: If the taxi driver was an employee, the cab corporation had to pay a share of his CPP and EI… Read More »2177936 Ontario Ltd. v. M.N.R., (2013 TCC C. Miller) — A taxi driver can be his own boss for CPP, EI, even if someone else owns the cab

In Employment Insurance cases, like this one, either the business denies that the worker was an employee (to avoid EI and CPP payments) or the worker claims to be an employee so that he can have EI benefits.  Here, the  worker, Mr. Rizak, claimed he was a university employee when he worked as a graduate research assistant in neuroscience at the University of British Columbia.  The TCC agreed.  Businesses… Read More »Rizak v. M.N.R., (2013 TCC, Graham) — a university graduate research student’s pay is employment income for EI benefits

This was a CPP appeal by the employer.  The employee was a US resident.  There were two issues: (1) was he an employee (subject to CPP) or an independent contractor (not subject to CPP) and (2) because he was a non-resident, how much of his pay was subject to CPP rules? Hogan J. decided that the worker was an employee, even though he owned 25%… Read More »Niagara Gorge Jet Boating Ltd. v. M.N.R., (2013 TCC Hogan) — CPP can be pro-rated for non-resident employees based on percent of work in Canada