Understanding Employee Pay for Franchisees

Franchisees are heavily reliant upon their employees and as such they need to legal structure those arrangements and effectively manage those critical relationships.

Contact Neufeld Legal PC for franchising legal matters at 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864 or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com

Unfortunately, employee pay is not as straightforward as most payroll providers and payroll specialists would have you believe, especially where there has been inadequate legal analysis of the employment agreements and the outputs of the payroll software, in relation to the applicable employment standards, which can vary between provincial jurisdictions (although seemingly largely imperceptible to others who have claimed to analyzed such outputs) . Such oversights, especially in certain Canadian provinces, can be highly problematic and costly, when these matters could have been avoided by not simply using generic employment agreements and the default payroll outputs.

Although the most simplistic employee pay arrangements might be largely compliant with the applicable provincial employment standards legislation, as soon as additional pay elements and/or employment pay arrangements beyond an exceedingly straightforward hourly pay arrangement are undertaken, most employment contracts and payroll systems fail to adequately address these alterations and deviations. Instead, most franchisees, in their capacity as the employer, expect the payroll outputs to be in conformity with the applicable provincial employment standards legislation, without any scrutiny of employee payroll runs over at least a one year period, by either their lawyer and/or their payroll provider / payroll specialist. However, hoping that something as consequential as employee payroll will be correct without any scrutiny is a recipe for disaster. And even though many employers may well have gotten away with flaunting the applicable employment standards legislation (even though it was largely not known to most), these matters can largely be dealt with and accounted for if appropriate advance action is undertaken by the franchisee (employer).

Christopher Neufeld is a business lawyer knowledgeable in the rigors and challenges of the franchise business, together with the legal constructs that are critical to their effective operation. For experienced legal representation with respect to employees and employment arrangements for your franchise, contact franchisee lawyer Christopher Neufeld at 403-400-4092 [Alberta], 905-616-8864 [Ontario] or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com.

Importance of Employment Agreements for Franchisees: Employment agreements are critical for franchisees as they define the relationship between the franchisee (as the employer) and their employees. While the franchisor controls the franchise system, it is the franchisee who is the direct employer and is responsible for all aspects of the employment relationship, including hiring, managing, paying, and, if necessary, firing staff. Read more.

 

Understanding Employee Pay for Franchisees: Unfortunately, employee pay is not as straightforward as most payroll providers and payroll specialists would have you believe, especially where there has been inadequate legal analysis of the employment agreements and the outputs of the payroll software. Such oversights, especially in certain Canadian provinces, can be highly problematic and costly, when these matters could have been avoided by not simply using generic employment agreements and the default payroll outputs. Read more.

 

Contact us via email at chris@neufeldlegal.com or call 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864.