Independent Contractor Agreement
Engages someone as a contractor, and records why they are one.
A contract that engages someone as a self-employed contractor rather than an employee, covering scope of work, payment, IP ownership, and termination. Misclassifying a worker, calling someone a contractor when they're functionally an employee, can trigger back taxes, CRA penalties, and employment standards claims, so the underlying relationship needs to actually match the label.
- Business days
- 1–5Business days
- Lawyer reviewed
- 100%Lawyer reviewed
- Surprise bills
- $0Surprise bills
What an Independent Contractor Agreement should include
Scope and deliverables — what the contractor is engaged to do, project-shaped rather than role-shaped.
Independence — control over how and when the work is done, which is what the relationship is actually judged on.
Fees and invoicing — rate, invoicing, and the absence of employment-style entitlements.
IP ownership — an assignment of what they create, with moral rights addressed and pre-existing material carved out.
Confidentiality — what they may not disclose during or after the engagement.
Termination — notice on either side, and what happens to work in progress.
When you need one
Whenever you engage someone who is not an employee. The document matters less for the day-to-day than for what happens if the classification is challenged: how the relationship actually operates carries more weight than the label on the contract, and the tests applied by tax authorities and by employment-standards regulators are not the same test.
How Ruby drafts it
Tell us what you need
Describe the agreement, your business context, and how fast you need it. A few smart questions, not a legal questionnaire. Your price and turnaround are confirmed before anything starts.
Ruby drafts it
Once pricing is confirmed a qualified Ruby lawyer is assigned to your file, and the first draft is built from your answers and real Canadian statute.
A licensed lawyer reviews every line
A lawyer licensed in Canada reviews and finalizes the document before it reaches you, and writes the plain-language summary that comes with it.
Signed, stored, and yours to revisit
You get the final agreement and its summary, stored so you can come back to it rather than hunting through email for the current version.
The fee is set before any of that starts. Hourly billing moves as scope does; a flat fee is one number, confirmed in writing, that doesn’t change after the work is done. See how Ruby prices agreements.
Or did you mean one of these?
These get confused with an Independent Contractor Agreement often enough to be worth ruling out before you buy the wrong document.
Questions people ask
No. Classification turns on the substance of the relationship — how much control you exercise, whose tools and business it is, whether they carry any risk of profit or loss. A written agreement helps evidence the intended arrangement; it does not settle the question on its own.
The consequences can include employment-standards entitlements and tax and payroll liabilities, and they vary by province and by which authority is asking. It is the reason misclassification is worth taking seriously before it is tested rather than after.
Only if the contractor agreement does not already assign what they create. Many do not, or license rather than assign, which leaves the company short of ownership. Check the clause rather than assuming it.
Looking for the plain definition rather than the document? See Independent Contractor Agreement in the Ruby legal glossary.
This page is general information about Canadian business law and is not legal advice. Laws differ by province and change over time, and how they apply depends on your circumstances. For advice on your situation, speak with a lawyer licensed in your province.
Need a Independent Contractor Agreement?
Ruby drafts it for a flat $499 CAD, confirmed before any work begins, with a licensed Canadian lawyer on every document.