In Canada, paying T4 employees is a solved problem.
Payroll systems know how to calculate wages, deductions, and remittances. Clinics rely on them every day for permanent staff, and they work well in that context.
Where things still break down is with temps who are considered T4 employees, but not permanent staff: people who work individual shifts, sometimes at multiple clinics, with no ongoing employment relationship at any one location.
That’s the gap Fairly Payroll for Temps was built to close.
Learn more about CRA compliance for temp employees here: The Dangerous Myth of the Independent Contractor: CRA Compliance.
Traditional payroll assumes permanence
Most payroll systems are designed around stable, long-term relationships. They assume workers stay on the roster, hours accumulate over a pay period, and small issues can be resolved later.
Temp work doesn’t allow for that.
A temp dental professional may work one shift at a clinic and never return. That shift still needs to be paid accurately and promptly. There’s no next pay cycle to fix mistakes, and no relationship buffer if something feels off.
When payroll tools built for permanence are used for episodic work, friction is inevitable.
The real failure happens after the shift
The hardest part of paying a temp isn’t compliance or calculations. It’s what happens immediately after the shift ends.
The work needs to be confirmed. Hours need to be approved. Payment needs to move without ambiguity.
In permanent staffing, these steps are spread out and forgiving. In temp work, they’re tightly connected. If approval is late, payment is late. If payment is unclear, trust disappears.
Most payroll systems weren’t built to handle that level of immediacy.
Fairly Payroll for Temps treats each shift as a complete transaction
Fairly takes a fundamentally different approach.
Fairly Payroll for Temps is built around one core idea: the shift is the unit of work, and payroll should close that unit cleanly.
Instead of batching hours across employees and weeks, Fairly closes payroll one shift at a time. When a temp finishes a shift:
- Hours are reviewed and approved for that specific shift
- Payment is triggered through Fairly Payroll for Temps
- Required deductions are remitted to the CRA, and net pay is deposited into the temp’s bank account
- An ROE is automatically generated to reflect an interruption of earnings if the temp does not return for additional shifts
- At year-end, T4s are automatically prepared and filed. If a temp works multiple shifts at the same clinic over the year, all earnings are consolidated into a single T4 for that clinic
The temp remains a T4 employee, and clinics remain fully compliant. What changes is the structure and timing.
Clinics can also use Fairly Payroll for Teams to pay their permanent staff, unifying payroll across temp and permanent roles in a single system, regardless of how often someone works.
Why this is better for clinics
Clinics don’t need to onboard temps into long-term payroll systems or manage off-cycle payments. Each shift has a clear approval moment, a clear cost, and a clear payment outcome.
Fairly Payroll for Temps eliminates hours of manual payroll admin, reduces payroll questions, and minimizes back-and-forth. Payroll finishes cleanly instead of lingering.
Why this is better for temps
For temps, payroll clarity is everything. They don’t have the context or patience for unclear payment timelines, especially when the engagement is short.
Fairly Payroll for Temps gives them visibility into approved hours and predictable payment, even when they only work a single shift. That reliability builds trust quickly, which is why temps are far more likely to return for future work.
Built specifically for temp work, not retrofitted
Fairly Payroll for Temps isn’t a traditional payroll system with temp support added later. It’s purpose-built for episodic work.
By designing payroll around shifts instead of pay periods, Fairly aligns payment with how temp staffing actually works, one engagement at a time.
Final thought
Paying temps isn’t hard because payroll is complicated. It’s hard because payroll was built for permanence, and temp work isn’t permanent.
Fairly Payroll for Temps rewrites that assumption.
One shift. One approval. One payment. Closed.
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