John is a dentist who owns a dental practice and has decided to hire a dental hygienist so that he can see more patients each day. After interviewing several hygienists, he decides to hire Kelly and calls her in to make an offer.

Kelly tells him that she would prefer to be self-employed because she wants to be able to take advantage of the additional tax deductions. She will make her own remittance payments as required to CRA.

When determining the work arrangements, it is agreed that she will work the same hours as the dentist each day. If the dentist takes vacation, she will also take vacation. If she needs other time off, they will decide at the time whether he will need a temporary assistant. Kelly knows a few hygienists who have told her they would be happy to work occasionally as they are only working part time. If it is just for a day or two, John thinks he could do the work himself otherwise he would hire them to cover the time when Kelly is away if needed.

She will see all of the practice’s patients for teeth cleaning before they see the dentist for their regular checkups, as well as additional cleanings between regular checkups, every 3 – 4 months if she can be scheduled with the patient by the clinic. She has her own set of tools that she prefers to use, but since the dentist has already invested in all the tools for the practice, they have agreed that when her tools need to be replaced, she will use the ones the dentist practice owns.

Since she is just getting started as a dental hygienist, she prefers to be paid a set amount each month. He agreed this would be easier for his accountant as well, they wouldn’t need to track the hours to figure out the pay each period. They agreed on an amount equal to what he had paid when he hired a temporary hygienist earlier in the year through an agency for one month.

1. 1. For each case listed, determine if it is an employer/employee relationship, or self-employed
2. 2. What are some additional questions to ask John and Kelly to clarify the classification?