What are the legal differences between hiring an employee versus hiring an independent contractor?

Are you planning to hire people to help you grow your business?  Congratulations!  This is an important step for every business.  It is important to understand the legal implications.

Liability Considerations

• Employees - The business becomes “vicariously liable” for all of the actions of an employee.  The business owns the employee mistakes.  
• Contractors - The Contractor remains liable for their own actions, including potential mistakes. They should get their own licenses and insurance to cover these.

Making Remittances to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

• Employees - The business is responsible legally to make tax and other remittances on behalf of the Employee - Income Tax, EI, CPP.   These amounts become liabilities of the business and can become a liability of the owner. 
• Contractors - The Contractor is...

Have you ever been about to ride a horse, jump in a kayak or play hockey and someone sticks a clipboard in front of you at the last minute, asking you to sign a waiver?  

I have had the question many times - "Are these Waivers legit?  Do they work?" 

They can be if you are doing them right.  

Purpose of Waivers

If there is a particular risk in your business that you want the client or customer to be responsible for AND NOT THE BUSINESS, you can shift this responsibility in a waiver.

When to Get a Waiver Signed

One party - your customer - wants to participate in a risky activity (skiing, trampoline, zip line, etc.). and the other party - your business wants to protect itself from liabilities relating to this activity.

In exchange, the customer signs a waiver and release regarding liability claims in order to participate.  If they do not wish to sign, they can not participate.

This could be in a volunteer or business activity - it may be the...

You did the work.  Now your client is not paying.  What are you supposed to do?

You want to preserve the relationship and not be too confrontational but not getting paid is an issue for your cash flow and the financial stability of your business.

Here are some tips for collecting accounts receivable now outstanding, and improving the situation in the future:

Check the Contract

While legal contracts can help you to set clear expectations with your clients up front, they are also super helpful in a situation where your clients are not paying you.

Having a binding legal contract means that you can ENFORCE the terms of the contract.  So the first thing to check is to see what the contract says in regard to fees and payment terms.

Are the fees due clear in your client contract? Your client contract should state how fees will be calculated whether they are hourly, daily or fixed fees based on certain project stages.  Have you added on amounts for additional work beyond...

Podcasts continue to grow in popularity, including for business owners who are looking to generate new leads, establish their expertise and grow their community.

As with other aspects of business, there are some legal issues to be considered.  Here are my top 5 legal tips:

#1 - The content of your podcast is protected by copyright law and owned by the host.

This copyright protection, which is worldwide, is automatic upon creation.  The creator of the podcast (the host) has the exclusive right to use this content unless permission (i.e. a license) is given.  You can assert your rights through a copyright notice - i.e. (c) Legal Essentials Inc. 2021.  All Rights Reserved.  Advanced tip - if you have co-hosts for your podcast, you should agree on who owns what upfront (like a prenup) in case you decide to part ways.

#2 - If you have a separate podcast producer from the host, you should have a legal agreement with them.  

This agreement should...

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a "template" as:

- a gauge, pattern, or mold used as a guide to the form of a piece being made
- something that establishes or serves as a pattern

One of the ways that I strive to help Canadians doing business online is through the creation of made-in-Canada legal templates.

A good template serves as a guide - not just an example of a type of document. The difference is you will know what parts may need to be customized and what parts are a key part of the structure.

And all legal templates should be specific to your home country - using UK or US legal documents for Canadian businesses means the template will not be the best fit.

You also need to understand when to use which template.  A good template will give you some context for its use and let you know when it may not be appropriate to use.

When you are asking people to contribute to the creation of content of your business, you should get them to sign a release form .

This will give your business the right to use the content, including in its original form and repurposing the content.

You may be taking pictures or videos at events, recording a podcast or using client testimonials in your promotions.

Using content created by other people for commercial purposes without their written permission could involve risks for your business including damage to your reputation.

This video addresses three different ways that you can get a contract signed digitally.

These include the following:

(1) Sign on paper and scan (or take a picture)

(2) Use an e-signature program

(3)  Use a checkbox to get someone to agree to terms

It is important for your business to create processes that work for you and your clients.

In this video, I talk about the three main types of business contracts to have in your business:

1.  Client Contracts

2.  Hiring Contracts

3.  Rental Contracts

If you have any questions about this topic, you can reach me at [email protected].

In this second part of the "Get it Writing 2020" series, you will learn whether emails back and forth can form a legal contract.  You will also learn things to look out for using e-mails to form agreements.

This video discussed the "why" of getting your legal agreements in writing and gives you three reasons why writing is better than a hand shake.