The Labour Standards Act

The Labour Standards Act applies to most employees in Quebec. An employee is someone who works for an employer and who is entitled to a salary. Warning! Some people are totally excluded from the application of the Labour Standards Act, including: Self-employed workers, that is to say the people who run their own business; People working in businesses governed by federal laws.

This is the case for federal government employees, banks, radio or television stations, interprovincial transportation companies, ports, telecommunications companies, etc.  Labour standards of these people are in the Canada Labour Code, which is a federal law. Moreover, some people are protected in part by the Labour Standards Act. Thus, the following persons shall enjoy only the protection for forced retirement and psychological harassment.

Students who work during the school and college year in an establishment selected by an school and college to a job induction program approved by the government; People who keep or take care of a child, a sick, handicapped or aged person, in which it resides. They must do this occasionally or based on a relationship of family support or assistance in the community.

The employer of these people should not try to make money with this service. Example: the teenager who custody on Saturday evening while parents have an outdoor activity. Senior managers and construction workers, in addition to being entitled to protections regarding forced retirement and psychological harassment are entitled to absences for family reasons as well as maternity, paternity and parental leave.

Remember that even if they are excluded from all other rights and protections of the Labour Standards Act, their employment contract or other laws may protect them. No Sometimes the Labour Standards Act creates exceptions for certain categories of workers such as domestic workers, farm workers and workers in the garment industry. There are also other jobs for which there are few exceptions. Here are two examples.

Most employees have a regular work week of 40 hours. However, the normal working week of an employee working in a sawmill is 47 hours. Most employees are entitled to take paid annual leave. Real estate agents paid entirely on commission does not have that right.

The Labour Standards Act applies to the employee regardless of where he works. If the employer has his business headquarters, his factory, his place of business or office in Québec, it must respect the law. If you usually work in Quebec and your employer sends you to work abroad, it must respect the labor standards of Quebec, despite the fact that you run your work in another country. Yes, but not under any conditions.

An employer may not employ a child under 14 without first obtaining the written permission of a parent. The child must not work during school hours. He can not work from 23:00 to 6:00, unless it has more than 16 years, if a paperboy nor is an artist.

The work must respect the child's abilities and not jeopardize its development, health and education. The Labour Standards Commission is responsible in particular for the application of the Labour Standards Act. The organization's mission is to inform the public on labor standards.

The Commission also has the function to receive employee complaints, investigate and, if necessary, to compensate them according to the scales provided for by law. It also has a mandate to try to get employers and employees to agree as to their disagreements about the implementation of standards.

Finally, the Commission has the power to sue the employer to recover the amounts it had paid to an employee when the employer would have paid him.

Yes I do. Your title, supervisor for example, does not automatically make you a frame. In fact, if you do not hold important decision-making power and you do dictate your tasks, you remain subject to the Labour Standards Act.

For example, if you supervise a work team within a large company and, each week, you have a meeting with the head of section, which tells you some tasks to be executed by your team, you are still considered an employee by law.

Moreover, even if you are a real connection with decision-making powers and extensive management, certain standards and protections of the Labour Standards Act still apply to you, including the right to take time off for family or parental reasons, the right to paternity leave, maternity or parental leave and protection against psychological harassment and making forced retirement.