Shift Terms

• Shift: a posting by a business for one or more Pros to do one kind of work at one site for one block of time.
• Spot: one Pro's place on a shift. A shift with four spots is four separate jobs, one per Pro.
• Business or Client: the company that posts the shift, acting through its members on UPSO for Business.
• Pro: an independent service provider on UPSO who claims a spot.
• Site contact: the person the business names to meet the Pros, read out the start and finish codes, and answer questions on the day.
• Lane: the kind of work (for example Event Help, Kitchen Help, Cleaning). Each lane has a UPSO hourly rate and a list of documents a Pro must hold to work it.
• Rate: what each Pro keeps per hour on the shift. It is the lane rate or higher, never lower.
• All-in price: the rate plus UPSO's service fee, which is what the business pays per Pro per hour, before HST.

UPSO is the marketplace. It introduces the business to Pros, holds and moves the money, and keeps the record of what happened. UPSO is not a party to the services; each spot is a contract between the business and the Pro who claimed it, on the terms shown on the shift when it was claimed.

A Pro is an independent contractor under the Provider Agreement. UPSO does not employ Pros, does not assign them to shifts, and does not supervise their work. A Pro sees a shift because they are approved for the lane and near the site; whether to claim it is entirely the Pro's choice, and a Pro may decline any shift for any reason or none. A Pro may work for anyone else, on or off UPSO, at any time.

The business is not the Pro's employer either. The business tells the Pros what the work is and where, and its site contact directs the tasks on the day within the lane's scope, the way any client directs a contractor. The business does not set the Pro's rate below the lane rate, does not control how the Pro does the work beyond reasonable site rules, and does not pay the Pro directly.

A business posts a shift from UPSO for Business, naming the lane, the site, the start time, the hours, how many Pros, the rate, the site contact, and anything the Pros should know. The posting member accepts these terms on behalf of the business.

The business promises that:

• the work is lawful, is the kind of work the lane covers, and is described honestly, including anything hard, heavy, hot, cold, wet or unusual about it;
• the site is safe for the work and the business meets its own duties as the person in charge of the workplace, including under Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act, and tells Pros about site hazards and site rules before they start;
• the business holds whatever licences and permits its own operation needs (a liquor licence for a bar, for example); a Pro brings the documents the lane requires of them (Smart Serve for Event Help, Food Handler for Kitchen Help, and so on) and UPSO checks those before the Pro can claim;
• a dress note on a shift ("black shirt, closed shoes") is a reasonable request about the site, not a uniform the business supplies or a condition of any kind of employment;
• it will not ask a Pro to do work outside the lane, to work unpaid time, to work off the UPSO app, or to give or take a phone number to arrange work outside UPSO (the Provider Agreement's non-circumvention terms apply to the business too for 12 months after the last shift);
• its site contact will be reachable on the day, through UPSO, and will read each Pro their start code when they arrive and their finish code when they are done.

A business starts with up to 2 shifts open at once and up to 10 Pros per shift. After 3 shifts closed and rated 4.5 or better by its Pros, those limits grow to 5 and 25. UPSO may raise or lower a business's limits at any time.

A Pro who is approved for the lane, whose documents are valid on the day of the shift, who has signed what the lane requires, and who is free at that time sees the shift in Find Work and may claim one spot. First come, first served. A Pro holds one spot per shift. An owner or manager of a Pro company may claim a spot for an active member of their team; every rule then applies to that member.

By claiming, the Pro agrees to be at the site at the start time, for the hours posted, to do the work the lane covers as the site contact directs it, and to follow reasonable site rules. The Pro decides how to do the work, brings what the lane says a Pro brings, and may refuse any task that is unsafe, outside the lane, or unlawful; refusing such a task is never held against a Pro.

The Pro accepts these terms once, before their first claim. A Pro may turn shifts off under Work preferences at any time; single jobs are unaffected.

The Pro's pay for a spot is the rate times the hours, worked out the way the Provider Agreement works out every hourly job: the time from Start to Finish, counted in whole minutes, never more than the hours posted plus any extra time the business approves, and never less than the lane's minimum. UPSO's platform fee of 15% applies to that labour as on every job, so the Pro keeps 85% of it, plus all of any tip. The offer shows the Pro their pay for the full hours before they claim.

The business pays the all-in price times the hours for each spot, plus HST at 13%. A spot nobody claims costs nothing. The price for a shift is fixed when it is posted; the business may raise the rate afterwards for spots claimed from then on (a Pro already booked keeps the rate they claimed at) but may not lower it.

When a Pro claims a spot, UPSO holds that spot's price on the company's card if the shift starts within 6 days; for a shift further out, UPSO places the hold 6 days before the start. A business on invoice terms is billed instead. If the card is refused, the business and UPSO are told, the Pro keeps the spot while the business fixes it, and UPSO tries again; a spot still unheld at the start may be cancelled by UPSO.

Each spot is charged when that Pro finishes, for that Pro's hours. Extra time asked for by a Pro and approved by the business is charged at the same rate and held and captured the way extra time is on every job. The business receives one line per shift on its statement, with each Pro's job listed under it, and a receipt for each job.

The lane rate on every shift lane is set by UPSO and is never below Ontario's general minimum wage; UPSO publishes the lane rates on the site and in the app.

The business may cancel a shift, or any spot on it, at any time. An open spot is free to cancel. A claimed spot is free to cancel within 30 minutes of posting or more than 24 hours before the start; inside 24 hours, 50% of that spot's price goes to the Pro for holding the time, UPSO keeps its service fee on that amount, and the rest is released. The business may add spots to a live shift at any time at the same price.

A change to the start time or hours is a cancellation of the old shift and a new posting: every Pro on it is asked to confirm, and one who declines leaves with no penalty.

A Pro may release a spot before the shift starts. More than 24 hours before, there is no penalty; the spot reopens and other Pros are told. Inside 24 hours, the spot reopens the same way but the drop is recorded on the Pro's Trust Meter (5 points), as a late cancellation is on any job. A Pro who does not arrive and does not release is a no-show under the Provider Agreement.

If the site is closed, the site contact cannot be reached, or the Pro is turned away through no fault of their own after arriving on time (the Pro's location record shows it), the business owes the service no-show fee that applies to every scheduled job, and the Pro receives their share of it.

UPSO may cancel a shift or remove a Pro from one at any time for safety, a compliance problem, a refused card, a report of misconduct, or a breach of these terms, and will say why. Money already held is released or charged on the rules above.

Each Pro arrives, checks in on the app (which records their location), and starts the job with the start code the site contact reads out; the clock runs from then. The Pro finishes with the finish code the site contact reads out; the job is charged for the time between. Where the shift asks for photos, the Pro takes a photo at the start and at the finish, and the business can see both.

A Pro may close a job within 15 minutes of the posted end on their own; earlier than that only with the finish code. The business may close the whole shift from its page when the work is done; every Pro still on the clock is then closed and charged for the hours posted. A shift nobody closes is closed by UPSO 2 hours after its posted end, on the hours posted, and the business and the Pros are told.

Pros see the business's name and the site contact's first name; the business sees each Pro's first name, rating and job count. Phone numbers are never shown either way; calls go through UPSO. Chat between a Pro and the business closes when the job ends.

Anything that goes wrong on a shift (a Pro who did not come, work not done, a site that was unsafe, a charge that looks wrong) goes through the Resolution Centre, per spot, within 7 days of the shift. UPSO looks at the record (check-ins, codes, photos, messages, the location trail) and decides what is charged, refunded or paid, on the rules in the Terms of Service and the Provider Agreement. Damage protection applies to each spot as it does to any service job.

Each side is responsible for its own acts and omissions. The business is responsible for its site and for the direction it gives; the Pro is responsible for the work they do, as the Provider Agreement says. UPSO's responsibility is as set out in the Terms of Service and the Provider Agreement and is not widened by a shift.

These Shift Terms take effect on the day Shifts open in your area and apply to every shift posted from then on. UPSO may change them; a change applies to shifts posted after it is published, and a Pro is asked to accept a new version before their next claim. The laws of Ontario and Canada govern. If any part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still stands.

Questions: [email protected]. Legal notices: [email protected].

The numbers these terms use, as set on the day Shifts open in your area. Every shift shows them again before it is posted or claimed.

Free cancel window

More than 24 hours before the start, or within 30 minutes of posting

Late cancel (business)

50% of the claimed spot's price to the Pro, plus UPSO's fee on it; the rest released

Late drop (Pro)

Inside 24 hours: 5 Trust Meter points; the spot reopens

Card hold

At claim when the shift starts within 6 days; otherwise 6 days before the start

Charged

Per spot, when that Pro finishes, for their hours

Auto-close

2 hours after the posted end, on the hours posted

Early close

Within 15 minutes of the posted end, or any time with the finish code

Shift length

1 to 16 hours, in half hours

Limits

2 open shifts and 10 Pros per shift to start; 5 and 25 after 3 shifts rated 4.5+

Pro's share

85% of the labour, plus all tips (Provider Agreement)

Sent with the Provider Agreement 1.4. Removed when the terms are final.

1. Temporary help agencies. Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 (Part XVIII.1) regulates temporary help agencies and, since 2024, requires them to be licensed. Shifts are built so that UPSO does not assign anyone: a Pro chooses to claim, may decline any shift, works for others freely, and is paid as a contractor through Stripe. Please confirm this product does not make UPSO a temporary help agency or recruiter needing a licence, and whether any wording here should change.
2. Classification. Fixed hours, a dress note and on-site direction by the client are the signals that look most like employment. Sections 2, 3 and 4 put direction with the client (as with any contractor) and keep choice, rate floor, tools and non-exclusivity with the Pro. Please review against the current tests for dependent and independent contractor status in Ontario, and the Digital Platform Workers' Rights Act, 2022 (in force 2025), which UPSO already follows for minimum pay and notices.
3. Health and safety. Section 3 puts site safety on the business as the person in charge of the workplace under OHSA. Please confirm the duty wording, and whether UPSO should require a business to confirm WSIB coverage for its own workers before posting, or to confirm the site is not a construction project.
4. Serving and food. Event Help and Kitchen Help require Smart Serve and Food Handler certificates from the Pro; the venue holds its own licences. Please confirm nothing more is needed from UPSO under the Liquor Licence and Control Act, 2019 or local public health rules.
5. Money. The late-cancel split, the no-show fee and the Pro's share mirror the Terms of Service and the Provider Agreement; please confirm the business-side cancellation terms in section 6 are enforceable against a corporate customer, and that the hold timing (section 5) raises no issue under the card network rules UPSO follows through Stripe.