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BTW I will share an example of employees cannot 'opt' out of their ESA rights.
In Ontario if you work over 5 hours you are entitled to a 30 minute break unpaid .... in order for this break to be unpaid though you have to be allowed to LEAVE the premises to take it ~ if an employer requires you to stay on premise for whatever reason the break must be PAID.
So in licensed daycare centres the ratios must be maintained at all times as per the DNA act and well this OFTEN requires that some staff have to take their one lunch break ON SITE in order to do this while others are allowed to leave for it. MOST centres have this policy, staff signed their employee contract knowing that they had to do this as per the 'polices' of the daycare and so forth .... however in most centres staff work a 9 hour day but only get paid for 8 .... so basically staff are NOT getting PAID for their lunch hour despite being required to 'stay on site' because it is not consistent WHICH ONE had to remain behind and so forth staff just basically volunteer taking turns being the person who does not have to be on 'on site' and this is still done in MANY centres because staff are not aware of their 'rights'.
However my understanding from a peer who worked there at the time was that several years ago one centre was reported to the Labor Board for this 'practice' in their centre ... a complaint filed by ONE employee about this practice and they WON ... and not only did that ONE employe win back-pay for their unpaid lunch hours they were required to be 'onsite' but because there was no 'record' of who had to stay behind and who did not she got paid for ALL her lunch hours and not only HERS but ALL employees were awarded this even though they did not file a complaint themselves .... so the centre was required to go back the 7 years with their employment tax records and pay ALL staff on record working more than 5 hour shifts for their lunch hours which cost them a fortune in penalties! Moving forward they changed staffs hours of work to be 8.5 hours and only gave them a 30 minute break so that they were able to cover lunches without requiring anyone to 'stay behind' and be paid for their lunches ~ which I guess was still a win for employees cause their workday got shortened.
Anyway my point is that initially that employee had SIGNED THE CONTACT knowing that this was a policy ~ but than filed a complaint about it and won ~ because she cannot 'legally opt out' of an ESA requirement ~ a contract can EXCEED the ESA but it must meet its bare minimum as well!
Sad thing is that many centres STILL require staff to do this over lunch hour and they do it UNPAID and no one complains cause they 'assume' it must be legal cause so many centres do it and why would an employer do something 'illegal' :(
Anyway if you are going to 'hire' anyone PLEASE make sure you research and protect yourself cause it could turn out to be more trouble than its worth because it opens all sorts of doors of liability and so forth!!!!
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Inspired, thank you for your posts. You gave me a lot to think about and consider. I was thinking of drawing a simple contract stating that they are responsible for paying their own taxes etc.
The helper would only be coming once a day for 3 hours a week for a start. And if everything goes well I will need her for 3 days a week again 3 hours each day. Now, to my understanding she is no more then a regular babysitter who comes to a family whenever her services is required.
When i was babysitting for a babysitting comany in the past i was responsible for my own taxes and it was writing in my contract too. I was also babysitting privately and those families were regular. But law did not make them my employers.
I understand where you coming from but in my case as a small business, I don't think I need to follow the employment law. Thanks again for the links. I will have a look at them to see what they say about this.
Cocoon
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Just read one of your link "Am I old enough to work" well in my case they are. They are both 16 years of age therefore, they don't require permission from their parents' to work. Although, I couldn't find whether I should be paying the minimum wage.
I will be paying $400 a month which makes $11 for an hour which is a very good hourly rate for a teenager but I like to keep them happy:)
