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Canadian HR, explained.
Practical guides on payroll, compliance, employment law, and people operations. Written for Canadian accounting firms and the SMBs that hire them.
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Hiring Summer Students in Canada: TD1, CPP, EI, and What's Actually Exempt
Most Canadian SMBs misunderstand the payroll rules for student employees. CPP has one real exemption. EI has almost none. The 'students don't pay tax' myth is mostly wrong. Here is what 2026 actually requires.
Maria Reyes
Canada Day Stat Pay 2026: The Four Formulas, the Premium Math, and the Wednesday Problem
Canada Day 2026 falls on Wednesday July 1. Every Canadian jurisdiction calculates stat holiday pay differently, four distinct formula families across 13 jurisdictions. Plus the premium pay rules for employees who actually work the day.
Maria Reyes
Group RRSP via Payroll: How Canadian SMBs Set Up Pre-Tax RRSP Contributions Correctly
Group RRSP contributions made through payroll reduce employees' income tax withholding at source, not as a credit but as a deduction against the withholding base. Here is how the setup works, what the T4 implications are, and what goes wrong when employers get it wrong.
Maria Reyes
Saskatchewan Stat Holiday Pay 2026: The 5% Formula, 10 Public Holidays, and the Ontario Default That Costs You
Saskatchewan uses the 5% formula, not Ontario's 1/20 rule. Here is every 2026 public holiday, the exact calculation, the substitute-day rules, and why payroll software set to Ontario defaults systematically over-pays Saskatchewan employees.
Maria Reyes
Ontario Severance Pay 2026: ESA Minimums, Common Law, and What You're Actually Owed
Ontario's ESA sets a severance floor under ss.57 and 64, but most terminations attract common-law reasonable notice worth substantially more. Here is the full calculation, a worked example, and what the Bardal factors mean for a real Ontario package.
Maria Reyes
Ontario Stat Holiday Pay 2026: The 1/20 Formula and 9 Public Holidays
Ontario stat holiday pay: wages in the 4 workweeks before, divided by 20. The 9 public holidays for 2026, substitute-day rules, and the surrounding-days eligibility test.
Stephen Humphrey
How to Fill Out Your 2026 TD1 Form: A Plain-English Guide for Canadian Employees
What the TD1 actually does, which lines apply to you, the difference between the federal and provincial forms, and how your answers change your take-home pay. 2026 personal amounts included.
Maria Reyes
How to Collect and Process the TD1 Form: An Employer's Guide for 2026
The TD1 is not the employee's paperwork — it's the employer's obligation. When to issue it, what happens if the employee claims more than the basic amount, how to handle a mid-year change, and what to do when someone never submits one. 2026 federal and provincial rules.
Maria Reyes
CPP2 Explained: What It Is, How the Two-Tier System Works, and What Canadian Employers Must Withhold in 2026
CPP2 adds a second contribution tier above the YMPE. In 2026: employee max $416.00, employer matches it dollar-for-dollar. Here's the design logic, the 2026 numbers, and the edge cases that generate real payroll errors.
Maria Reyes
Parental Leave Canada 2026: EI Weeks, $729 Weekly Cap, QPIP for Quebec
EI maternity (15 weeks) plus parental (40 standard or 69 extended), the $729 weekly cap, and QPIP for Quebec. Full 2026 rules and employer obligations by province.
Stephen Humphrey
Quebec Overtime Rules and Calculation: The Reference for Employers Hiring in QC
Quebec overtime kicks in after 40 hours per week at 1.5× regular wage. No daily threshold, narrow manager exemption, 12-month bank-and-take-or-pay rule. Full reference.
Stephen Humphrey
How to Calculate Stat Holiday Pay in Canada: Step-by-Step for Every Province
Canada has four different stat holiday pay formulas. This step-by-step guide shows Canadian SMB owners and payroll managers how to calculate stat pay correctly for every province in 2026, with worked examples and a free calculator.
Stephen Humphrey
Ontario Employer Health Tax (EHT): The Payroll Cost You May Be Calculating Wrong
Ontario EHT is a payroll tax on total remuneration. The $1M exemption sounds generous, until you cross it. Rates, the associated-employer rule, the $5M cliff, and what the 2025 reforms changed.
Maria Reyes
Minimum Wage Canada 2026: All 14 Rates from $15.00 to $19.75
Every Canadian jurisdiction's 2026 minimum wage, from Alberta at $15.00 to Nunavut at $19.75. Full table, scheduled increases, and multi-province compliance traps.
Stephen Humphrey
Sick Leave in Canada by Province: Who Gets Paid, Who Doesn't, and the One Rule No Two Provinces Agree On
Canada has 14 different sick leave entitlements, federal, 10 provinces, 3 territories, and the gap between the best and the worst is 10 paid days versus zero. Here's the full 2026 table and the compliance traps that catch multi-province employers.
Stephen Humphrey
2026 TD1 Employer Guide: $16,452 Federal BPA + Every Provincial Amount
2026 TD1: $16,452 federal basic, $9,208 age, $10,341 disability + every provincial amount and Quebec's TP-1015.3-V. Plus the 3 mistakes Canadian employees make on every new hire's first paycheque.
Stephen Humphrey
Stat Holiday Pay Canada 2026: 4 Formulas by Province and Territory
Canada has 4 stat holiday pay formulas: 1/20 (ON, QC, YT, federal), 5% (AB, SK, MB), average-day (BC), regular day's pay (Atlantic and North). Full 2026 table.
Stephen Humphrey
Compliance-as-Monitoring: Why Most HR Software Fails the Audit Test
Your HR platform tells you what was compliant the day you typed it in. It does not tell you when something breaks. The most expensive compliance problems are the ones you don't know you have, and they're the ones a daily monitoring layer would catch in 24 hours.
Stephen Humphrey
ROE Canada: 5-Day Deadline, Reason Codes A to N, Insurable Hours
The Record of Employment deadline is 5 calendar days. Every reason code explained, the insurable-earnings math, and the top 3 mistakes Service Canada rejects most often.
Stephen Humphrey
Severance Pay in Canada: What You're Actually Owed When the Meeting Happens
Statutory notice is a floor, not the number. Canadian workers terminated in the 2023–2024 layoff wave routinely signed away common-law reasonable notice worth many times the package HR handed them. Here is what the math really looks like, province by province.
Stephen Humphrey
2026 CPP & CPP2 Employer Guide: Rates, Maximums, and the $416 CPP2
2026 CPP2 max: $416.00 (4.00% on $74,600–$85,000). Base CPP 5.95% to YMPE $74,600. Free calculator + the 3 employer mistakes to avoid.
Stephen Humphrey
Vacation Pay in Canada by Province: The Reference Every SMB Should Have Pinned
Canadian vacation pay ranges from 4% to 8% by province and tenure, with Saskatchewan using a different formula altogether. Here's the full 2026 table and the three traps that cost Canadian SMBs real money.
Stephen Humphrey
Overtime in Canada by Province: The Reference Every HR Lead Should Have Pinned
Provincial overtime thresholds in Canada vary from 40 to 48 hours, with daily caps in BC, Alberta, and the territories. Here's the full reference and the traps that bite Canadian SMBs.
Stephen Humphrey
In the pipeline
Onboarding Checklist for Canadian Employers
What documents you need, what CRA forms to collect, and what compliance steps to complete before an employee's first day.
PIPEDA and Employee Data: What HR Teams Must Know
Collecting, storing, and sharing employee personal information is heavily regulated in Canada. A practical guide for HR teams.
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