When Worlds Collide – The Evolution of Employment Law Principles in the Termination of Independent Contractor Relationships

It is remarkable how much the law can change in as little as 14 years. In 2005, Justice Kathryn N. Feldman authored reasons for decision on behalf of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in the case of 1193430 Ontario Inc. v. Boa-Franc Inc., 2005 CanLII 39862 (ON CA). The essential holding of that case is that, “Employment law concepts such as just cause should not be imported into commercial law context to govern distributorship agreements.”

14 years later, in the case of Barresi v. Jones Lang Lasalle Real Estate Services Inc., 2019 ONCA 884 (CanLII), the two worlds could not be more intertwined.

ONCA says Uber's Arbitration Clause is both Illegal and Unconscionable

Can a company, which ostensibly deems all of its workers to be “independent contractors”, require those workers to arbitrate their issues, including the issue of whether or not they are, in fact, “employees”? Or, is such an agreement an attempt to contract out of the protections afforded to employees by virtue of the Employment Standards Act, 2000? In addition to, or in the alternative to, such a question, is such a clause “unconscionable”?

In the fist decision issued by the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2019, Heller v. Uber Technologies Inc., 2019 ONCA 1, Ontario’s top court found that: (a) Uber’s arbitration clause amounts to an illegal contracting out of an employment standard; and (b) such clause is also unconscionable at common law.

Why does one think this ride isn’t over yet?