Question

Sammy Farkus is a student in the Business program at Seneca. Due to Covid 19 he is now doing all of his courses online. He still has the same amount of work, and he can actually devote a bit more time as he doesn't have the commute on the TTC. But he made one mistake – he told his family and friends that he was learning about workplace law. Now his family and friends all think that he has loads of time (because he's at home taking courses online) to solve their problems for them. 1. Uncle Phil carried on his own business for ages, selling things from his home. But last year Uncle Phil decided to give it all up. Alex, a guy he knew from the bowling alley, had started a business importing clothing (called Legs) and selling the clothing to independent retailers. But Alex didn't have the smarts to be a good salesperson, so he asked if Uncle Phil was interested in "helping out” and he would pay him. They agreed that Alex would pay him a percentage of all clothing he sold. Uncle Phil missed selling and being a bit bored at home said yes and started to find sales. Alex was a stickler for making sure everything reflected the Legs brand and even scripted the introduction to the company that Phil had to say. Phil put in a great number of hours at Alex's warehouse and did all his telephone and computer work from there, as per Alex's instructions. Alex insisted that Uncle Phil carry business cards which 1| Page named him a Sales Manager of Legs. He wanted weekly reports and a list of who he was contacting Everything was going well until Alex's son came home from college and needed a job. Alex decided to give all the leads Phil was working on and all the repeat sales to his son. That wasn't right. Phil had worked long hours to build up the business and earn big bucks and now he had nothing. He heard somewhere that he could complain to the Ministry of Labour. a. Is Phil an employee or an independent contractor? Explain your response. b. What can Phil do, if anything?

Answer 1

Answer a= The basic elements that differentiate an employee from the independent contractor are stated below=

Control over the job

Facilitation of the tools and equipment to work

Control over the working hours

The manner in which the work is being done

If we look at the given case, it is clear that every work done by Phil was controlled and directed by Alex. Alex provided all the tools to perform the job, he directed and instructed Phil on various issues, and Phil was working in the premise provided by Alex. All these elements indicate that there was complete control of Alex on the work performed by Phil and thus it is clear that Phil was the employee of Alex.

Answer b= Phil can contract the government agencies regarding the abrupt termination of the employment and can ask for the compensation from Alex