Hire Employees in Canada

A federal or provincial corporation can be formed in days, and several provinces require a resident director. Registration with the CRA for a payroll account, plus provincial workers’ compensation and any employer health tax, follows.

The decision that matters first is which province the employee reports to — it sets the pension plan, the employment standards, the holidays and the employer taxes.

EOR to test a province before committing. Entity once Canada is settled.

Contractors face the CRA’s control-and-integration test, applied alongside provincial tests that can reach a different answer. A finding of employment brings back CPP and EI with penalties and interest, assessed against the payer rather than the worker.

Break-even rule of thumb: EOR fees begin to exceed the running cost of a small Canadian entity somewhere between 15 and 20 employees. Model both before committing — see EOR vs Entity for the full comparison, and plan any later migration so employees keep seniority.

Already paying someone in Canada as a contractor? Run the risk check before the arrangement is tested by an audit.

Not sure which model fits? A GX specialist will cost EOR vs entity for your exact headcount — free, within two business days. Get a model recommendation

The 2026 federal figures: the first CPP ceiling is C$74,600, the second is C$85,000, and the EI maximum insurable earnings are C$68,900. Several current guides still quote C$65,700, which was last year’s figure.

Because everything federal is capped, the percentage falls as salary rises — about 10.8% on C$55,000 and 8.1% on C$120,000 in Ontario.

Quebec is a different system, not a variation. QPP replaces CPP at 6.30% rather than 5.95%, QPIP applies at 0.602% for the employer to C$103,000, and the EI rate is reduced to compensate. Payroll for a Quebec employee reports to Revenu Québec as well as the CRA.

The employer does not simply match the employee in Canada. CPP is matched dollar for dollar at 5.95%, but EI is charged to the employer at 1.4 times the employee rate — 2.28% against 1.63% — which is easily missed when reading employee-facing guidance. Both ceilings rose this year: the YMPE by 4.6% to CAD 74,600 and maximum insurable earnings to CAD 68,900. CPP2 then adds 4% on the narrow band between CAD 74,600 and CAD 85,000, with no basic exemption, and nothing at all applies above CAD 85,000. Quebec runs a different system, and the test is province of employment rather than residence: an employee living in Gatineau but working at an Ottawa office pays CPP and full-rate EI, while a Quebec-based employee of an Ontario company pays QPP at 6.3%, reduced EI, and QPIP. Employers in Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland also pay a provincial health tax entirely separate from CPP and EI.

Four representative profiles at the 2026 federal rates, with Ontario’s 1.95% health tax and an illustrative 1% workers’ compensation rate. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data. Change the province and the total moves materially — Alberta charges no employer health tax at all. For real market data on your roles, ask for a costing.

Four representative profiles costed on 2026 statutory rates. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, to be replaced with GX operating data.

Remittance frequency depends on the employer’s average monthly withholding — quarterly, monthly, or as often as four times a month for large employers. Late remittance penalties start at 3% and rise to 10%.

T4 slips are due by the end of February for the preceding calendar year; Quebec employees also receive an RL-1.

Federal tax runs 15% to 33% across five bands. Provincial tax is separate and material — combined top rates range from about 44% in Alberta to over 54% in Nova Scotia.

Quebec collects its own provincial income tax directly, so a Quebec employee’s payroll reports to Revenu Québec as well as the CRA.

Written contracts are not compulsory but are strongly advisable, because without one the common law implies a reasonable-notice term on termination that is usually far longer than the statutory minimum.

A termination clause limiting notice to the statutory minimum is enforceable only if drafted precisely — Ontario courts in particular have struck down clauses for minor defects, exposing employers to common-law notice of a month per year of service or more.

Standard hours and overtime thresholds are provincial. Most provinces set overtime after 40 or 44 hours a week at 1.5 times pay; Ontario uses 44, British Columbia 40 with a daily threshold of 8.

Averaging agreements and managerial exemptions vary, and the exemption tests are narrower than employers often assume.

Statutory vacation is provincial: two weeks after one year in most provinces, rising to three after five or six years, with Saskatchewan starting at three. Vacation pay is a percentage of earnings — 4% for two weeks, 6% for three — and is owed even where the employee does not take the time.

Between five and ten paid statutory holidays depending on the province, with only a handful common to all. National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on 30 September is observed federally and in some provinces but not others.

For a team spread across provinces there is no single holiday calendar, and the differences are larger than in most federal systems.

Canada observes 9 paid public holidays in 2026. Dates that fall at a weekend and any substitution rules are set out below; entitlement is separate from annual leave.

Maternity and parental leave is job-protected under provincial law and paid by federal EI rather than the employer — up to 15 weeks of maternity benefits plus 40 or 69 weeks of parental benefits shared between parents, at 55% or 33% of earnings to a ceiling.

Quebec runs its own QPIP with higher replacement rates and a shorter qualifying period, which is why Quebec employees pay a reduced EI premium.

Sick leave is provincial and modest — federally regulated employees now accrue up to 10 paid days a year, but most provinces require far less.

Two things run in parallel and this is where foreign employers get caught. Statutory notice under provincial employment standards is short — typically one week per year of service to a cap of eight. Common-law reasonable notice, which applies unless a valid contractual clause displaces it, is far longer: courts commonly award one month per year of service, and up to 24 months for long-serving senior staff.

Severance pay is additional in Ontario for larger employers, and group terminations trigger extended notice everywhere.

There is no at-will employment anywhere in Canada.

The Global Skills Strategy offers two-week processing for eligible high-skilled roles — among the fastest routes in the developed world. Intra-company transfers and CUSMA professionals are exempt from the labour-market test.

Everything else needs an LMIA, which adds two to four months and requires advertising the role domestically first.

The recurring exposures are assuming one national rulebook, contractor misclassification, missing a provincial employer health tax registration, failing to register for workers’ compensation, and Quebec’s separate system.

The largest financial risk is termination. A poorly drafted notice clause is struck down and replaced by common-law reasonable notice — often a month per year of service, up to 24 months.

Register with the CRA for a payroll account before the first pay date, and with the province for workers’ compensation and any employer health tax.

Confirm before the offer: the province of the work establishment, whether the employment contract has a termination clause that will survive scrutiny, and whether the role is federally or provincially regulated.