Nanny Employment Contract Canada: Back-to-School Guide

September is coming. The school schedule is set, the childcare gap is real, and you have found the right person for the job. Now comes the part most families skip straight past: the contract.

A nanny employment contract in Canada is not a formality—it is a legal obligation. Under every provincial Employment Standards Act (ESA), employers must document key terms of employment before work begins. Getting this right before the first day of school protects your family, your employee, and your CRA standing for the entire school year.

Each time I have hired a caregiver for my family, I have needed to adjust the contract for either my nanny’s requirements or my changing family dynamics. What I found was that there is no one-size-fits-all contract—careful consideration had to go to duties, hours, and living conditions (when we hired a live-in nanny).

This guide walks through every clause your contract needs, with special attention to the scheduling complexity that many back-to-school families face.

Why a Written Contract Is Non-Negotiable

The moment you hire a nanny in Canada and direct their daily tasks, set their schedule, or supply the equipment they use (a stroller, a car seat, a family vehicle), they are a domestic employee—not a contractor. That classification triggers the full suite of employer obligations under federal and provincial law.

A written contract:

Establishes gross wages and confirms your employee understands the difference between gross pay and take-home pay
Documents hours of work, which the CRA and provincial labour boards will ask for in an audit
Defines overtime thresholds so you comply with provincial ESA rules from day one
Sets the notice period for termination on both sides, protecting you from wrongful dismissal claims

Verbal agreements create disputes. A signed contract creates clarity. Because I took the time to create a detailed, legally sound contract for my nannies, I avoided the disputes that tend to happen to others. For our first nanny, we had an issue with how much time she was spending on her phone while looking after our kids. When I addressed it with her, I pointed to the clause we both signed that limited phone use to updating us while we were at work.

The 8 Clauses Every Canadian Nanny Contract Must Include

1. Hours of Work and Schedule

This is where most back-to-school contracts get messy - and where families with non-standard work schedules need to be especially careful.

When I was working rotating shifts, I couldn’t hand my nanny a fixed Monday-to-Friday schedule. My nanny’s hours had to adjust each week to reflect my shifting schedule. That created two challenges: the contract had to acknowledge a variable schedule, and I (the employer) had to have a reliable way to track actual hours worked every week. It also meant I had to track overtime carefully, as some of my nanny’s shifts went late - especially if I was required to stay late.

Your contract should state:

Ordinary daily and weekly hours (even if they vary week to week, set a maximum)
How the schedule will be communicated (e.g., provided by Thursday for the following week)
Overtime rules that apply when actual hours exceed the provincial threshold

Track every shift with a digital nanny timesheet app before you submit payroll. Paper logs and text messages are not audit-proof. For a full checklist of what to document from day one, see our complete nanny employer checklist for Canada.

2. Gross Wage

Always state the gross hourly wage—not the net take-home amount. The CRA calculates CPP, EI, and income tax deductions based on gross pay. Quoting a net rate to attract candidates is common, but it creates serious compliance problems because the deduction amounts shift with payroll changes.

Use our nanny employer cost calculator before you lock in a rate so you understand your full cost as an employer, including your matching CPP and EI contributions.

3. Overtime Rules by Province

Canada does not have a single overtime standard. The thresholds vary significantly:

Province / Territory	Daily Overtime Threshold	Weekly Overtime Threshold
Alberta	After 8 hrs (1.5×) (see note)	After 44 hrs (see note)
British Columbia	After 8 hrs (1.5×); after 12 hrs (2×)	After 40 hrs
Manitoba	After 8 hrs (1.5×) (see note)	After 40 hrs (see note)
New Brunswick	None	After 44 hrs (see note)
Newfoundland and Labrador	None	After 40 hrs (see note)
Northwest Territories	After 8 hrs (1.5×)	After 40 hrs
Nova Scotia	None	After 48 hrs (see note)
Nunavut	After 8 hrs (1.5×)	After 40 hrs
Ontario	None	After 44 hrs (see note)
Prince Edward Island	None	After 48 hrs (see note)
Quebec	None	After 40 hrs (see note)
Saskatchewan	After 8 hrs (1.5×)	After 40 hrs
Yukon	After 8 hrs (1.5×) (see note)	After 40 hrs (see note)

Note — nannies and domestic workers often follow different overtime rules. The table above shows each province’s standard ESA thresholds. Many household roles are classified separately, and those classifications can override the numbers above. In Alberta, Ontario (private-home caregivers/nannies), Quebec (childcare and personal caregivers), PEI (caregivers), New Brunswick (domestic workers), Yukon (domestic workers), and live-in domestics in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, overtime is typically exempt. Manitoba live-out domestics are OT-exempt, while Manitoba live-in domestics generally follow the standard thresholds. British Columbia and Saskatchewan domestic workers (live-in or live-out) usually keep the standard OT rules—live-in status mainly affects room-and-board deduction caps. Alberta also has a distinct caregiver track with daily OT only after 12 hours. Always confirm the classification that applies to your household before you lock OT language into the contract.

Your contract must reference the specific ESA that applies to your province and confirm how overtime will be compensated. Overtime and holiday rules vary by province—for a detailed walkthrough of B.C. thresholds and how they interact with domestic work, see our BC overtime rules for nannies and domestic workers.

4. Vacation Pay

Under every provincial ESA, employees begin accruing vacation entitlement from their first day. In most provinces, the minimum is 4% of gross wages (2 weeks) for the first few years of employment.

The contract should specify:

Whether vacation pay is paid out on each paycheque (most common for domestic employers) or accrued and taken as paid time off
How the employee should request vacation days

5. Statutory Holiday Pay

Your nanny is entitled to statutory holiday pay even on days they do not work—if they qualify under your province’s eligibility rules. The calculation typically depends on average hours worked over the preceding 30 days.

Document in the contract that statutory holidays will be paid according to provincial ESA, and track hours diligently so the calculation is accurate when holidays arrive. For the broader tax and remittance picture that sits beside holiday pay, see our Canadian nanny tax guide for 2026.

6. Job Duties and Boundaries

A clear duties clause prevents scope creep. Specify:

Primary childcare responsibilities (ages of children, pick-up/drop-off, activities)
Incidental household tasks and their limits (e.g., children’s laundry only)
Whether driving is required, and confirm insurance obligations
Whether they are live-in or live-out

7. Termination and Notice

Every province requires minimum notice periods (or pay in lieu) based on length of employment. Document:

The notice period each party must give
That termination must comply with provincial ESA minimums (which override any shorter period in the contract)
Grounds for immediate termination for cause

8. Trial Period

A probationary period (typically 3 months, though provincial rules vary) lets both parties confirm the fit. Document the probation length and whether reduced notice applies during that window—check your provincial ESA for what is legally permitted.

Updating the Contract Through the School Year

A contract signed in September is not a set-it-and-forget-it document. Trigger a contract review and amendment when:

Your family grows (a new baby changes duties and likely hours)
Your schedule materially shifts (e.g., your job changes, school hours extend)
Wages are renegotiated (always amend the contract in writing)
Your nanny changes living arrangements (live-in to live-out, or vice versa)

Failing to update your contract when material terms change creates legal exposure. The original signed document can be used against you in an ESA complaint if it no longer reflects reality.

What Comes After the Contract

Signing the contract is step one. Before the first paycheque, you also need to:

Register for a CRA Business Number (payroll program account)
Collect federal and provincial TD1 forms from your nanny (covered in our guide to paying nanny taxes legally)
Set up a payroll schedule and remittance calendar (see do I need a CRA business number to hire a caregiver)
Register for Workers’ Compensation if required in your province
Track time and overtime against your provincial daily and weekly thresholds so every hour is payroll-ready and audit-proof
Track expenses your nanny incurs on the job (mileage, supplies, activity fees) and reimburse them separately from wages
Track sick days against your province’s paid and unpaid entitlements so balances stay accurate through cold-and-flu season
Track vacation days and vacation pay accrual from day one, whether you pay it out each cheque or bank it for time off

I tried to do this with a spreadsheet. Fortunately, I have a technical background and was able to get the formulas right for each cell to generally calculate the information I needed. However, I was still spending valuable time each month tracking this information—the same contracted-vs-actual-hours spreadsheet trap many household employers fall into. I had hired a nanny to give me more time, not because I wanted to be an employer and deal with all the administration on the other end. That is what led me to start RoostPay—I knew many other families in the same boat who were desperate for a simple, app-based nanny payroll service.

RoostPay guides you through every one of these steps with automated workflows. From contract generation to monthly CRA remittance tracking, the platform handles the compliance calculations so you can focus on the school-year routine.

Ready to Start the School Year Right?

The families who make it through September without a payroll headache are the ones who set things up properly in August. A solid contract is the foundation—and RoostPay builds everything on top of it for you.

Explore the RoostPay Nanny Payroll App features or join the RoostPay waitlist to get set up before your nanny’s first day.