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Gig Economy Worker Rights in Canada: What Uber, DoorDash and App Workers Are Entitled To

Updated

Driving for a rideshare app or delivering through a food app usually means you are treated as an independent contractor, not an employee, and that changes which workplace protections apply to you. Two provinces now set minimum rights for app-based ride-share and delivery work regardless of that status. This page covers your status, Ontario’s and BC’s rules, and your EI options. Other workplace rights are covered in the workplace rights and employee benefits hub.

Employee or independent contractor: why it matters

Employment standards protections (minimum wage, vacation pay, overtime, public holiday pay, notice of termination) apply to employees. An independent contractor generally gets only what the contract says, plus the specific gig-worker rules described below where they exist.

EmployeeIndependent contractor
CPPEmployer deducts your share and pays a matching shareYou pay self-employed CPP contributions on your net income (see taxes below)
EIInsured for regular and special benefitsNot insured for regular benefits; can register for special benefits
Minimum wage, vacation pay, overtime, noticeYes, under provincial (or federal) employment standardsNo, except where gig-worker rules apply
Group health and dental benefitsSometimes, through the employerNo

Status is decided by the facts of the working relationship, not by what the app calls you:

Whether a worker is an employee or self-employed depends on the facts of the whole working relationship, not only on what the parties call it: the CRA asks what the worker and the payer intended, then checks that against the payer's control over the work, who provides the tools and equipment, whether the worker can subcontract or hire assistants, the worker's financial risk, responsibility for investment and management, and opportunity for profit. For a contract formed in Quebec, it applies the Civil Code of Québec instead, looking at the work, the pay and whether there is a relationship of subordination; if the status is unclear, the worker or the payer can ask the CRA for a CPP/EI ruling.

How the CRA applies each factor and how to ask for a ruling are covered in contractor vs employee taxes. If you think the relationship is really employment, what to do if you were misclassified as a contractor explains how to claim what an employee would have received.

Ontario: the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act

Ontario’s Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022 (DPWRA) came into force on July 1, 2025. It sets rights for workers who provide ride share, delivery or courier services through an app or website, regardless of whether they are employees or independent contractors. Taxi and limousine services are excluded. Under the Act you have the right to:

  • Minimum wage for work time: at least Ontario’s general minimum wage for each work assignment or over a pay period. A work assignment starts when you accept it through the platform and ends when the work is done or cancelled, so time spent waiting between assignments isn’t counted. Tips don’t count toward the minimum.
  • Pay information before you accept: your estimated pay for an assignment and how it was calculated, plus the factors used to offer it to you.
  • A regular pay period and pay day, with all amounts earned, including tips the operator collects, paid by that pay day.
  • Your tips and earnings in full: the operator can’t withhold, deduct from or ask you to return your tips or earnings unless a law or court order requires it.
  • Notice before removal: a written explanation of why your access was removed, and two weeks’ written notice of a removal lasting 24 hours or more, except for wilful misconduct, public safety concerns, a legal requirement, or when you can’t otherwise legally do the work.
  • Protection from reprisal for asking about or exercising these rights.

You can file a DPWRA claim with the Ministry of Labour online or with a PDF form; generally it must be filed within two years of the violation. If you think you are also an employee, you can file a separate claim under the Employment Standards Act at the same time.

The Act doesn’t make app workers employees: it adds a set of minimum rights on top of whatever your status is.

British Columbia: ride-hail and delivery workers

BC’s Employment Standards Regulation gives app-based delivery services workers and ride-hail services workers their own minimum hourly wage, which applies only to engaged time: the time between accepting a job through the platform and completing it (or its cancellation). If your earnings from offers in a pay period fall short of that minimum multiplied by your engaged hours, the employer must pay the shortfall. Mileage allowances and tips are paid on top and can’t be counted toward the minimum. The rate is adjusted every year on June 1.

Other provinces and territories

In provinces without app-specific rules, whether minimum wage, vacation pay and overtime apply depends on whether you are an employee. A provincial employment standards office decides that question when it handles a complaint; see how to file an employment standards complaint.

EI for gig workers

Regular EI benefits (for losing work) aren’t available for self-employment income. Special benefits are:

Self-employed people can register for EI special benefits (maternity, parental, sickness and caregiving), but must wait 12 months after registering before they can claim.

The full conditions are in EI for self-employed people.

Taxes on gig income

Income from rideshare, delivery and task apps is self-employment income. For CPP:

Self-employed people pay both the employee and the employer share of CPP contributions on their net business income (11.90% above the basic exemption up to the first earnings ceiling, plus 8% CPP2 between the first and second ceilings), worked out on Schedule 8 and paid with the income tax return. A non-refundable tax credit is claimed on half of the base contributions, and the other half, the first additional contributions and all CPP2 contributions are deducted from income.

The yearly rates and earnings ceilings are on CPP contribution rates. You also report the income on your return, can deduct business expenses such as part of your vehicle costs and phone, may have to register for GST/HST, and may owe tax instalments. The details, including how platforms report your earnings to the CRA, are in gig worker taxes in Canada.

Choosing a platform

How the main rideshare, delivery and task apps compare is covered in the best gig economy apps in Canada.

→ Back to: Workplace Rights and Employee Benefits

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 29, 2026 and October 1, 2026. How we check facts.