University of New Brunswick – Tax Court of Canada finds that a post-doctoral fellow was not an employee of the University

Bocock J indicated that whether annual awards made to a post-doctoral fellow (PDF) of the University were employee remuneration for CPP and EI purposes turned on a determination of their “dominant purpose,” namely, “whether on balance the payments were made on account of monetary assistance to enhance the PDF’s education and research skills or paid as income in consideration of various services provided by the PDF to the University.” Bocock J concluded that the “annual award was paid with the dominant characteristic of furtherance of the education and learning of … the PDF,” so that the PDF was not an employee.

In this regard, he had found that:

• “PDFs received minimal oversight and supervision” so that they had “free range” in their pursuit of research;
• any teaching tasks taken on were separately remunerated by the University; and
• there was no documented “obligation of the PDF to provide laboratory, tutorial, teaching or research assistance to the University.”

Neal Armstrong. Summary of University of New Brunswick v. M.N.R., 2023 TCC 72 under s. 5(1).