In a Canadian case, Shonn's Makeovers & Spa, Appellant, versus the Minister of National Revenue, Respondent, a hairdresser became unstuck because of his Facebook page. The case which was heard before His Honour Justice Boyle examined whether or not a Mr William Hall was working for the Appellant as an employee or an independent contractor.
The tests to determine this are similar to those in Australia and include intent of the parties, control over the work, ownership of tools and chance of profit/risk of loss.
Mr Hall was a colouring artist. His Honour found that it was almost impossible for the Court to determine on the facts what his status was and further that evidence of the financial arrangements between the parties did not usefully point in either particular direction.
Under cross examination, Mr Hall was asked why he had put on his Facebook page that he was self employed. His response was that you didn't have to be honest on Facebook.
On further cross examination, it was put to Mr Hall that everything else on his Facebook page was true including his age, his likes and preferences, his hometown, his education and his activities and groups. The only thing that wasn't true was his self-employment status. Mr Hall replied that this was for privacy reasons.
His Honour held that his credibility had been damaged by his responses. It was not that he lied on Facebook, his Honour said that he did not believe that he was telling the truth when he said that he was lying on Facebook.
His Honour held that on the balance of probabilities that Mr Hall was not an employee of the salon.
In one of his reasons for his decision, His Honour said "Both surprisingly, and perhaps as a true sign of our times, this ends up turning on his Facebook status. Unfortunately such is the sad state of affairs of this file ..."
Stephen Wilcox
Australian Lawyer
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