Work History Question for CEC or other class?!?! :o

[mzgblx]

Hi all I have a question on behalf of a friend.

He has worked for a company for 11 months, plus another for 3 months. We work in the animation industry, and his first company (11months) of work was considered as "independent contractor" on his contract it specifically says that he is not an employee of them, but an independent contractor and is required to do all taxes etc. does that disqualify him for Canadian Experience Class? When filling out his EE profile he checked the box "self-employed" for this, so got disqualified. Should he uncheck this box or would that be a lie? He worked full time for nearly a year for them, in their office, so it seems very unfair that this would not count. Is there a way to get around this???? He is on a post-graduate work permit which are running out in a couple of months.

Thank you!!

 

[DelPiero07]

If he was self-employed then that's that, such work experience would not count towards a year of Canadian skilled work experience.

Unless he can argue that he was in fact an employee (or in a de facto employee-employer relationship) then he might be able to claim that work experience.

 

[mzgblx]

If he was self-employed then that's that, such work experience would not count towards a year of Canadian skilled work experience.

Unless he can argue that he was in fact an employee (or in a de facto employee-employer relationship) then he might be able to claim that work experience.

Do you know how to go about making a case for this? He went into the office everyday, worked full-time on their schedule, so I would say their relationship was definitely more of a traditional employer-employee relationship than anything else. but it does say on his contract that he is NOT their employee... this is all to make their taxes better though . Is that something you would argue for on your PR application or needs to be dealt with in the EE stage already? He isnt getting approved for EE obviously because of this though..

 

[DelPiero07]

Self-employment is a pain so he needs professional help.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4110/rc4110-e.html#guide_for_you

He can also check that link, if there is a way to request a ruling to CRA and they actually agree that he was in an employer-employee relationship then he would have a better chance of claiming that work experience.

 

[mzgblx]

Self-employment is a pain so he needs professional help.

cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4110/rc4110-e.html#guide_for_you

He can also check that link, if there is a way to request a ruling to CRA and they actually agree that he was in an employer-employee relationship then he would have a better chance of claiming that work experience.

I'd like to do that. I will see if he can call and find out how to defend his case. Since its all electronic I dont really see how one is supposed to explain anything... ugh! Professional help so they can defend him?? Or just to figure it out... Its just so expensive

 

[DelPiero07]

Just to figure out how to proceed, I still think it all comes down to whether he was an employee or not but maybe there is another option.

 

[Bloodrose]

Is this for the games industry by any chance?

Ordinarily it is very unusual for game development contractors to be self-employed in the truest sense of the word due to NDA's, ownership of assets, trademarks etc. Unless they were outsourcing stuff to him as a company and he was registered as a company working strictly for himself then this sounds like a defacto employer-employee relationship to me.

 

[mzgblx]

Is this for the games industry by any chance?

Ordinarily it is very unusual for game development contractors to be self-employed in the truest sense of the word due to NDA's, ownership of assets, trademarks etc. Unless they were outsourcing stuff to him as a company and he was registered as a company working strictly for himself then this sounds like a defacto employer-employee relationship to me.

Yes, for the animation industry ! Exactly. It was that type of relationship but how can it be proven !

 

[Bloodrose]

Yes, for the animation industry ! Exactly. It was that type of relationship but how can it be proven !

Was he registered as his own Inc company on an outsourced/freelanced project or was he a temporary external contractor doing working onsite like a normal employee would?

There's a big difference. If he was hired and paid through an agent then it might be that he was considered an employee of the agent rather than the client studio themselves.

 

[mzgblx]

Was he registered as his own Inc company on an outsourced/freelanced project or was he a temporary external contractor doing working onsite like a normal employee would?

There's a big difference. If he was hired and paid through an agent then it might be that he was considered an employee of the agent rather than the client studio themselves.

He was an independent contractor doing work on-site for an animation studio of 2 guys, who would pay him each seperately, so he was responsible for filing the taxes and they never gave him a t4. he just claimed everything as freelance. He has several contracts from them, but they all state that he is "not an employee" of them, but an independent contractor. I don't know if any of this will look good or be acceptable in the government's world :X I havent found anything helpful online for this type of situation either.

 

[Bloodrose]

He was an independent contractor doing work on-site for an animation studio of 2 guys, who would pay him each seperately, so he was responsible for filing the taxes and they never gave him a t4. he just claimed everything as freelance. He has several contracts from them, but they all state that he is "not an employee" of them, but an independent contractor. I don't know if any of this will look good or be acceptable in the government's world :X I havent found anything helpful online for this type of situation either.

OK. When people say they work as animators in Canada I normally assume that they mean the games industry these days. That does sound like he was a freelancer unfortunately and I don't think that kind of work counts as Canadian work experience.

 

[mzgblx]

OK. When people say they work as animators in Canada I normally assume that they mean the games industry these days. That does sound like he was a freelancer unfortunately and I don't think that kind of work counts as Canadian work experience.

Ok. thanks for your help! It was an animated TV series basically. I wonder if this can qualify under another class than CEC or.. I dunno, its hard to accept that 11 months of work will not count

 

[Bloodrose]

Ok. thanks for your help! It was an animated TV series basically. I wonder if this can qualify under another class than CEC or.. I dunno, its hard to accept that 11 months of work will not count

Does a PGWP even permit you to establish your own business?

 

[mzgblx]

Does a PGWP even permit you to establish your own business?

Not sure about that. Would that be an issue? He didnt establish anything..

 

[Bloodrose]

Not sure about that. Would that be an issue? He didnt establish anything..

He would usually have to establish something in order to file his own taxes unless he was contracted through an agency and they 'technically' acted as his employer.