Job candidate says mandatory Zoom briefing made him an employee
A job candidate said a mandatory virtual briefing made him an employee. His prospective employer disagreed.
In a decision released July 20, 2026, Ontario Labour Relations Board vice-chair Alan Freedman dismissed an application for review brought by a job candidate against Groupe FDM Canada Inc./FDM Group Canada Inc., an IT staffing and training company.
The candidate had sought three hours' wages for attending a mandatory HR information session while his background check was still pending; Freedman ruled he was never an employee and was not owed the pay.
Conditional offer, then briefing
FDM Group recruits, trains and places IT consultants with corporate clients, according to the decision. The candidate accepted a conditional offer of employment from the company on June 8, 2022, contingent on completing a background check that included a credit check. He signed a trainee employment agreement the same day.
About 90 minutes later, FDM Group emailed the candidate to invite him to a virtual HR information session the next day, calling it "a mandatory step for all FDM academy candidates." The board accepted his testimony that the session, held over Zoom on June 9, 2022, ran 45 minutes, though a company witness testified such sessions typically run 15 to 20 minutes, and can stretch to 25.
During the session, the candidate was given a questionnaire that again flagged the background check requirement, asking him to confirm he understood a credit check clearance was needed before joining the company. He answered yes and returned the form, according to the decision. FDM Group's witness testified the session covered the company's business model and what candidates could expect if hired, not job-specific training.
Credit check comes back unclear
Weeks later, FDM Group began the background check process and asked the candidate for additional information. On July 20, 2022, the company told him his credit check had come back unclear. A company representative followed up by email, writing that "your checks were unsuccessful, so we have made the decision to not move forward."
The candidate said he was already an employee by the time he attended the session, since he had accepted the conditional offer the day before and was directed to attend. According to his submissions, requiring him to appear before the background check was finished amounted to a waiver of that condition, and he was owed three hours' wages under the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
He also alleged the credit check requirement discriminated against him on the basis of disability under the Ontario Human Rights Code, and claimed FDM Group blocked his account with the company as a reprisal under the act.
FDM Group maintained the candidate remained a job applicant throughout and that the background check condition was never waived.
Board rules he was never an employee
Freedman found the human rights argument fell outside the board's jurisdiction, noting that determining whether the credit check requirement breached the Code was a matter for the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, not the labour board. The reprisal claim also failed, since reprisal protections under the act apply only to employees.
On the central question, Freedman found the information session was not employment. The candidate had not yet completed his background check when he attended, so he did not have a firm offer with all conditions fulfilled. Citing an earlier ruling involving a hotel job candidate whose interviews and facility tour also fell short of employment, Freedman found the session was "aptly characterized as pre-employment activity."
The board concluded FDM Group never waived the background check condition and that the candidate never performed work or received training that would make him an employee. Freedman ruled he "was not an employee of FDM Group when he attended the HR information session," dismissing the application for review and the wage claim along with it.
