When should an employee in Canada be granted overtime pay?

31 May When should an employee in Canada be granted overtime pay?

Posted at 14:18h in News by Kathy Chittley-Young

Has your employee been working overtime and you aren’t sure how to compensate them? Overtime pay is payment for time and a half for every hour your employee works over a 44-hour work week. This means, you multiply 1.5 by the amount they earn hourly. Overtime is calculated, at minimum, weekly. Overtime is not counted daily, unless there is a known agreement between the employer and employee.

Most employees qualify for this payment, and their right to receive this payment is protected under section 22 in the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). Section 22(1) protects the right to receive overtime compensation for those employees who either work over a 44-hour work week, or over the threshold of hours proscribed by their workplace.

Exceptions

There are exceptions to the overtime rule, which are dependent on the following:

The ESA outlines who is not eligible to receive this payment. There are workplaces where the overtime hours are greater than a 44-hour work week.
Managers and supervisors cannot receive overtime payments, even if they are burdened with extra work outside their usual role. To ensure that employees get paid what they deserve for overtime, there is a legal test to examine if someone is actually a supervisor or manager so that no workplace can lie about job titles.

People with multiple work roles

If an employee has more than one job in the workplace where one is covered under overtime pay, but the other one isn’t, there is a special rule their employer has to follow. This rule is called the “50 per cent rule” which means that if the employee works overtime, and those overtime hours are specifically drawn from the eligible overtime role by over 50%, they may receive payment.

If you have further questions about overtime pay, or questions about not receiving the pay you deserve, please contact KCY at LAW by filling in an online consultation request or contact us by phone at 905-639-0999 to book your consultation today.