I'm thinking about how, over the years in the forest industry, companies have gone more and more to contracting out work rather than "employing". They even get away with calling someone a "contractor" when, in fact, by CRA standards, they should be employees. The forestry watchdogs believe this has resulted in reduced safety, i.e. more deaths/injuries.
A couple of interesting, related threads:
Flight Time limitations
Labour code
And for reference:
The court has laid down four general principles to consider in determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. These principles are: Control, Ownership of Tools, Chance of Profit/Risk of Loss and Integration of Worker With Payer’s Company. Revenue Canada has adopted these four principles in its publication "Employed or Self-Employed?" and provides a series of questions to aid in the evaluation.
If a company (the payer) can answer NO to most of the following questions then the worker being hired is likely an independent contractor:
The payer decides how the work is to be done
The payer decides on the hours of work
The payer decides where the work must be performed
The payer assigns the individual tasks
The payer supervises the tasks
The payer pays for the required training
The payer controls who can perform the work
The payer supplies the necessary tools
The payer is responsible for repairs to tools
The payer is responsible for liability insurance
The payer is responsible for office expenses
The payer provides benefits (health, vacation, etc)
The worker is integrated into the overall structure of the company.