I would like to share my Employee or Self-Employed story with people. I hope it will help someone because I remember how difficult it was to find right information (sorry for grammar, English is my second language).
I was working for one company as a self-employed for 4 years. At the beginning of my job my employer told me that he would consider me as a self-employed and I agreed with that because at that time I was needed a job. Company for which I worked was kind of fishy but I tried to ignore it and focused on my job. Company didn’t pay vacations, holidays, sick days and so on.
To make long story short - when I went for vacation for two weeks and returned I found out that I got fired and a new worker was at my work place (they just grabbed my stuff and throw it in to the drawer, no explanation, nothing). I was in shock and I asked for two weeks termination payment but they told me that as a self-employed I am not eligible. I decided to file complain to Ministry of labour and when I started searching information it is appear that according to Canadian law in fact I was an employee. www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4110/employee-self-employed.html
Also good to read -https://paoc.org/docs/default-source/church-toolbox/church-administration/employee-or-self-employed/employee-or-self-employed.pdf?sfvrsn=b863196a_2
So as an employee I made following steps:
1. I applied to Canada Revenue regarding my Employment status.
Filed CPT1 form and add explanation letter. (mailed them, but you also can do it via the internet but I wanted to add letter ) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/forms/cpt1.html
2. I applied to EI agency regarding my Employment Insurance. https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/apply.html
3. I applied to Ministry of Labour regarding contravention of the Employment Standards Act, 2000. https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/forms/claim.php#claim_form
I filed Employment Standards Form for:
• Misclassified – S. 5.1
• Wage Statements – S. 12
• Public Holiday Pay – S. 24
• Vacation Pay – S. 35.2
• Termination Pay – S. 61
Repercussions
Ministry of Labour and Canada Revenue investigated my case and made decisions:
1. Canada Revenue ruled me as an employee and asked my employer to pay for CPP and EI my part and his.
2. Ministry of Labour ordered to my ex-Employer to pay me all 4 years public holidays and vacations plus three weeks termination pay.
3. I got Employment Insurance for all months that I didn’t work retroactively.
Extra information:
You also can call Employment Standards information Centre tel. in Toronto 416-326-7160 or 1-800-53-5551.
For legal information you can contact legal clinic or Employment Standards Information Centre.
CLEO’s Steps to Justice website has step-by step information about common legal issues, including your rights as a worker. Visit www.stepstojustice.ca and see the information in the Employment and Work section. Also www.cleo.on.ca and click on “Legal System”
For legal help and advice you can contact a community legal clinic or lawyer. To find your nearest community legal clinic you can go to www.yourlegalrights.on.ca and click on “Services”. Also Legal Aid Ontario website at legalaid.on.ca or call them tel. in Toronto 46-979-1446 or 1-800-668-8258.