Employment Protections for Gig Workers – Know The Laws Of Your Province

Gig workers can unionize in some provinces but lack ESA and OHS protections in most of Canada.

As many as 20% to 30% of all Canadian workers engage in some form of “gig work,” like driving, freelance writing, developing websites and even pet-sittting. But only a few jurisdictions have revised their employment and labour laws to keep pace with the “gig economy.” Where such changes have been made, they typically affect:

Labour relations laws governing trade unions and collective bargaining;
Employment standards laws; and/or
OHS laws.

Here’s a roundup of the requirements in each jurisdiction:

Employment Protections for Gig Workers Across Canada

FEDERAL

Labour Relations: Law protects “employees,” including “dependent contractors,” defined as: (a) The owner, purchaser or lessee of a vehicle used for hauling, other than on rails or tracks, livestock, liquids, goods, merchandise or other materials, who is a party to a contract, oral or in writing, under the terms of which they’re: (i) required to provide the vehicle by means of which they perform the contract and to operate the vehicle in accordance with the contract, and (ii) entitled to retain for their own use from time to time any sum of money that remains after the cost of their performance of the contract is deducted from the amount they are paid, in accordance with the contract, for that performance; (b) A fisher who, under an arrangement to which the fisher is a party, is entitled to a percentage or other part of the proceeds of a joint fishing venture in which the fisher participates with other persons, and; (c) Any other person who, whether or not employed under a contract of employment, performs work or services for another person on such terms and conditions that they are, in relation to that other person, in a position of economic dependence on, and under an obligation to perform duties for, that other person (Canada Labour Code, Sec. 3(1))

ALBERTA

Labour Relations: Law protects “employees,” including a “dependent contractor,” defined as a person, whether or not employed under a contract of employment, and whether or not furnishing tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material or any other thing owned by the dependent contractor, who performs work or services for another person for compensation or reward on such terms and conditions that the dependent contractor is in a position of economic dependence on, and under an obligation to perform duties for, that person which more closely resembles the relationship of an employee than that of an independent contractor (Labour Rels Code, Sec. 1(1)(h.01)); Section 35.01 provides for union certification by dependent contractors.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Labour Relations: Law protects “employees,” including a “dependent contractor,” defined as a person, whether or not employed by a contract of employment or furnishing his or her own tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material or any other thing, who performs work or services for another person for compensation or reward on such terms and conditions that he or she is in relation to that person in a position of economic dependence on, and under an obligation to perform duties for, that person more closely resembling the relationship of an employee than that of an independent contractor (Labour Rels Code, Sec. 1(1)); Section 28 provides for union certification by dependent contractors.

MANITOBA

No specific protections for gig workers

NEW BRUNSWICK

No specific protections for gig workers

NEWFOUNDLAND

Labour Relations: Law protects “employees,” including a “dependent contractor,” defined as an individual, whether or not he or she is employed by a contract of employment or provides his or her own tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material or other thing, who performs work or services for another person for compensation or reward on those terms and conditions that he or she is in a position of economic dependence upon and under an obligation to perform duties for that person more closely resembling the relationship of an employee than that of an independent contractor (Labour Rels Code, Sec. 2(1)(k))

NOVA SCOTIA

OHS: Act protects “employees,” including a “dependent contractor,” defined as a person, whether or not employed under a contract of employment and whether or not furnishing the person’s own tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material or any other thing, who performs work or services for another on such terms and conditions that the person is (i) in a position of economic dependence upon the other, (ii) under an obligation to perform duties mainly for the other, and (iii) in a relationship with the other more closely resembling that of an employee than an independent contractor (OHS Act, Sec. 3(j))

ONTARIO

Labour Relations: Law protects “employees,” including a “dependent contractor,” defined as a person, whether or not employed under a contract of employment, and whether or not furnishing tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material, or any other thing owned by the dependent contractor, who performs work or services for another person for compensation or reward on such terms and conditions that the dependent contractor is in a position of economic dependence upon, and under an obligation to perform duties for, that person more closely resembling the relationship of an employee than that of an independent contractor (Labour Rels Act, Sec. 1(1)); Section 9(5) provides for union certification by dependent contractors

Employment Standards: 1. Digital platform workers entitled to: (a) Minimum wage; (b) Recurring pay period and pay day; (c) Full pay earned without unauthorized withholdings or deductions; (d) Written information about their pay, assignment and performance review; (e) Notice if their access to the digital platform is removed; (f) Have all disputes resolved in Ontario; and (g) Protection from reprisal; 2. Employers must keep and retain for 3 years written records on each digital platform worker; and 3. Corporate directors jointly and severally liable for unpaid amounts to digital platform workers (Bill 88, Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022)

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

No specific protections for gig workers

QUĖBEC

Employment Standards: Law protects “employees,” defined broadly as a person who works for an employer and who’s entitled to a wage, including a worker who’s a party to a contract, under which he or she i. undertakes to perform specified work for a person within the scope and in accordance with the methods and means determined by that person; ii. undertakes to furnish, for the carrying out of the contract, the material, equipment, raw materials or merchandise chosen by that person and to use them in the manner indicated by him or her; and iii. keeps, as remuneration, the amount remaining to him or her from the sum he has received in conformity with the contract, after deducting the expenses entailed in the performance of that contract (Labour Standards Act, Sec. 1(10))

SASKATCHEWAN

OHS: Protections against and duty to refrain from committing workplace harassment applies to workers and “independent and dependent contractors” (Sask. Emp. Act, Sec. 3-1(6))

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES & NUNAVUT

YUKON

Employment Standards: Protections apply to “contract workers,” defined as a worker, whether or not employed under a contract of employment, and whether or not furnishing tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material, or any other thing owned by the worker, who performs work or services for another person for compensation or reward on such terms and conditions that (a) the worker is in a position of economic dependence on, and under an obligation to perform duties for, that person, and (b) the relationship between the worker and that person more closely resembles the relationship of employee to employer than the relationship of an independent contractor to a principal or of one independent contractor to another independent contractor (Emp. Stds. Act, Sec. 1(1))