Franchisees and Their Employees

Franchisees are heavily reliant upon their employees and as such they need to legal structure those arrangements and effectively manage those critical relationships.

Contact Neufeld Legal PC for franchising legal matters at 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864 or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com

The success of franchises are heavily dependent upon the franchisee's employees, such that it is particularly important for franchisees to properly undertake the legal structuring of their employment arrangements and effectively managing those critical relationships. It is rarely sufficient to simply rely upon verbal agreements or templates that are downloaded from the Internet when it comes to managing one's employees. Similarly, simply relying upon generic payroll software, without properly scrutinizing one's legal obligations as an employer specific to the governing employment standards legislation, can place a franchisee in a very precarious legal position when it comes to dealing with employment disputes and other legal issues associated with the franchise's employees.

It is important to have strong employment arrangements from the outset of your franchise's operations, as it will enable your franchise to weather the near certain challenges that you will face as an employer. With employees being so important to the business, and representing a major cost to the franchise's operation, it is vital that you are legally positioned to protect the franchise and best advance its business interests with its employees.

Christopher Neufeld is a business lawyer knowledgeable in the rigors and challenges of the franchise business, together with the legal constructs that are critical to their effective operation. For experienced legal representation in starting, acquiring / selling, operating and managing a franchise, contact franchisee lawyer Christopher Neufeld at 403-400-4092 [Alberta], 905-616-8864 [Ontario] or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com.

Importance of Employment Agreements for Franchisees: Employment agreements are critical for franchisees as they define the relationship between the franchisee (as the employer) and their employees. While the franchisor controls the franchise system, it is the franchisee who is the direct employer and is responsible for all aspects of the employment relationship, including hiring, managing, paying, and, if necessary, firing staff. Read more.

 

Understanding Employee Pay for Franchisees: Unfortunately, employee pay is not as straightforward as most payroll providers and payroll specialists would have you believe, especially where there has been inadequate legal analysis of the employment agreements and the outputs of the payroll software. Such oversights, especially in certain Canadian provinces, can be highly problematic and costly, when these matters could have been avoided by not simply using generic employment agreements and the default payroll outputs. Read more.

 

Contact us via email at chris@neufeldlegal.com or call 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864.