Recent amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), which came into effect on January 1, 2023, have carved out an exemption for certain business and information technology (IT) consultants.

This means, provided that certain requirements are met, the ESA will not apply to qualifying consultants.

Who are business and IT consultants?

The ESA provides broad definitions for both business and IT consultants, creating the potential to capture a wide range of workers:

• A "business consultant" provides advice or services to a business or organization in respect of its performance, including operations, profitability, management, structure, processes, finances, accounting, procurements, human resources, environmental impacts, marketing, risk management, compliance, or strategy.
• An "information technology consultant" means an individual who provides advice or services to a business or organization in respect of its IT systems, including advice about services in respect of planning, designing, analysing, documenting, configuring, developing, testing, and installing the business or organization's IT systems.

Apart from these definitions, there has been no additional guidance released to assist with the classification of business and IT consultants. Furthermore, there is no direction as to how broadly (or narrowly) these ESA definitions may be applied in practice.

How do consultants qualify for the exemption?

For a business or IT consultant to qualify for this exemption to...

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