Professional Partnerships Breathe Easier

This morning the Supreme Court of Canada released its much awaited decision in McCormick v. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, holding that most legal (and other professional) partnerships are not subject to Human Rights obligations to partners, because there is no "employment relationship" between a firm and its partners. In the Fasken's case, the issue was the partnership provision which required an equity partner to retire at age 65, a provision common in most professional partnerships. While partners were subject to various policies and administrative rules, the Supreme Court formulated the analysis as one of control and dependency:

...the test is who is responsible for determining working conditions and financial benefits and to what extent does a worker have an influential say in those determinations?