Alberta Employment Standards

Employment standards are minimum standards of employment for employers and employees in the workplace. In Alberta, our employment standards are contained in the Employment Standards Code and the Employment Standards Regulation.Employment Standards CodeEmployment Standards Regulation With few exceptions, this code applies to all employees and employers in Alberta.

Through these laws, minimum standards of employment have been established for: Payment of Earnings Minimum Wage Hours of Work, Rest Periods and Days of Rest Overtime and Overtime Pay Vacations and Vacation Pay General Holidays and General Holiday Pay Termination of Employment Employment of Individuals Under 18 Years of Age Adolescent Employment in the Restaurant and Food Services IndustryAdolescent Employment in the Restaurant and Food Services Industry

Employment of Persons Under 18 Years Question #1 Is a student permitted to be employed under the age of 16? True or False

Employment of Persons Under 18 In Alberta, employment restrictions are placed on persons under the age of 18. Unless enrolled in an off-campus education program under the School Act, no one under the age of 16 is permitted to be employed during normal school hours.

Children Under the Age of 12 These children are not permitted to be employed at any time in any occupation.

Adolescents - 12, 13 and 14 Years Old An adolescent is a person between the ages of 12 and 14. The Employment Standards Code prohibits an adolescent from being employed: for longer than 2 hours on a day during which the adolescent is required to attend school, for longer than 8 hours on a day during which the adolescent is not required to attend school, between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Employment of persons aged 15 to 17 Young persons 15 years or older but under 18 years cannot be employed between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. Employment is permitted between 9:00 p.m. and midnight if the employee works with and is in continuous presence of at least one other individual 18 years or older.

Question # 2. Adolescents are persons 12 years but less than 15 years of age. They may be employed to do what activities?

Adolescent Employment in the Restaurant & Food Services Industry Employers in the restaurant and food services industry may now hire employees between the ages of 12 and 14 to perform certain duties in a restaurant without obtaining a permit. Only the following duties are approved employment in the restaurant and food services industry: host/hostess, cashier, dish washing, bussing tables, waiting on tables, providing customer service, assembling orders, or cleaning. Certain conditions must be met before an adolescent can be employed in these jobs. Some of these conditions are:conditions –Completion of a Safety Checklist for Underage Workers, which requires parental consent,Safety Checklist for Underage Workers –Completion of a hazard assessment by the employer, as required by Part 2 of the Occupational Health and Safety Code, which the parent or guardian must receive and review.Occupational Health and Safety Code –The employer must fax or mail a copy of the safety checklist to AEII Employment Standards.

Minimum Wage Question # 3 What is Alberta’s Minimum wage? Question # 4 Minimum wage for a 16 year old attending school is the same as minimum wage for an 18 year old not attending school. True or False

Alberta's Minimum Wage Alberta's minimum wage is $10.20 an hour effective September, This applies to everyone, including students and youth. An employee's wages may not be reduced below the minimum wage by more than: $3.48 a day for lodging, or $2.63 for a single consumed meal. Remember that these numbers are always changing.

What are wages? Wages include –salary –pay –commission or any other remuneration, no matter how it is calculated Wages does not include : –tips –expenses –unearned bonuses

Wages Can only be paid by: –direct deposit –cash –cheque –money order Greater benefits can be enforced Wages can be reduced by notifying employee prior to pay period of which deduction is to take place.

Maximum Daily Hours Question # 6. When an employee begins work at 8:00 a.m., what is the latest that he/she can work?

Maximum Daily Hours An employee's work hours must fall within a 12-hour period in a workday unless an unforeseeable emergency occurs, or the Director of Employment Standards issues a permit authorizing extended hours of work. This means, for example, that an employee who begins work at 8 a.m. cannot work past 8 p.m.

Rest Periods Question #7. What paid or unpaid breaks are employees entitled to in any one shift exceeding 5 hours?

Daily Rest Periods During each shift in excess of five consecutive hours of work, an employee is entitled to at least a one-half hour break, except where it is unreasonable or impossible. The break can be paid, or unpaid, at the employer's discretion. This means that where a shift is less than 5 hours in length the employer is not obliged to provide a rest period. Where the shift is longer than 5 hours (e.g. 8 or 9 hours) the obligation of the employer is to provide at least 30 minutes of break time sometime during the shift. The 30 minutes can be taken in one unbroken period but may be provided as two 15-minute or three 10-minute breaks. This, of course, is the minimum standard, and in practice for a full day shift the amount of break time provided is frequently more than the specified minimum.

Rest Days Question # 8. During on week, how many rest days must an employer give an employee?

Weekly Rest Days An employer must give an employee: one day of rest each week two consecutive days of rest in each period of two consecutive weeks three consecutive days of rest in each period of three consecutive weeks four consecutive days of rest in each period of four consecutive weeks. After 24 consecutive days of work, employees must be provided with at least four consecutive days of rest.

Question # 9. What groups of employees are exempt from hours of work, rest periods and days of rest ?

Employees who are exempt from hours of work, rest periods and days of rest employees on a farm or a ranch various types of salespersons professionals such as real estate brokers, and licensed insurance and securities salespersons professions such as architects, engineers, lawyers, psychologists and information systems professionals managers, supervisors and those employed in a confidential capacity licensed land agents instructors or counselors at a non-profit educational or recreational camp extras in a film or video production employees covered by other Acts (academic staff) municipal police officers

Paying Employees Question # 10 True or False An employer has the right to ask his employees to designate a bank account into which their wages can be paid by direct deposit. Question # 11. When must an employee be notified of any reduction in wage rates or entitlements?

When and How Must Employees be Paid? Employees must be paid at least once per month. Most employers establish pay periods of a week, two weeks or a month. Employees must be paid within 10 days after the end of each pay period. Employees may be paid in cash, by cheque or money order or by direct deposit, into an account of an employee's choice, in any recognized financial institution. If an employer intends to reduce an employee's wage rate, overtime rate, general holiday pay, vacation pay or termination pay, the employee must be notified before the start of the pay period in which the reduction is to take effect. However, these rates must always be at least the minimum required by the legislated standards.

Deductions from Employee Earnings Question # 12 An employer found a piece of equipment broken and confronted his three part time employees about it. No one confessed to damaging the equipment so the employer told them he would deduct $25 from each employee’s paycheck to pay for the repairs. Can he do this? Yes or No

Deductions from Employee Earnings Question #13 Two cashiers worked out of the same till at a convenience store. One day they came up $100 short at the end of their shift. The manager insisted that each employee would have $50 deducted from the next pay cheque to make up the shortage. Are the cashiers correct in stating that the deductions are not allowed?

Deductions from Employee Earnings The Employment Standards Code allows certain deductions to be made from employee earnings. These include legal deductions for Income Tax, Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and Alberta Health Care premiums, as well as deductions resulting from a judgement or order of a court.Employment Standards Code If an employer wants to make other deductions, written permission must first be obtained from the employee. Examples include deductions for company pension plans, dental plans, personal charges to company credit cards, and so on. Usually these deductions are discussed and permissions are provided before the employee starts their job. There are some deductions that are not allowed, even with a written authorization from the employee. You cannot take deductions for faulty workmanship. Also, you may not deduct for cash shortages or loss of property where more than one person has access to the cash or property.

Statement of Employee Earnings Question # 14 An employer must provide a pay stub every payday ? True or False

Statement of Employee Earnings At the end of each pay period, the employer must provide a written statement to each employee showing: regular and overtime hours of work wage rate and overtime rate earnings paid that show each component separately deductions from earnings and the reason for each deduction time off in lieu of payment of overtime statement period. A statement of earnings is an important document. To avoid disagreements later on, employees should check the accuracy of their statements as soon as they get them.

Compressed Work Week A compressed work week is a scheduling of hours of work that: has employees working longer hours each day, and is balanced by having employees working fewer days each week. The arrangement must meet the following criteria: Employees may not be scheduled to work longer than 12 hours per day. Hours worked in excess of the scheduled daily hours, and/or in excess of 44 hours per week, are overtime hours. (Exceptions may apply where different industry hours are set by the Employment Standards Regulation.)Employment Standards Regulation Where the compressed work week is part of a multi-week cycle the average weekly hours in the schedule cannot exceed 44.

Shift Changes and Rest Between Shifts An employee must be notified in writing about a shift change 24 hours beforehand. Employees must get at least eight hours rest between shifts.

Overtime Question #15 An employer does not have to pay overtime to employees; it is at the discretion of the employer. True or False

What is Overtime? Except as noted below, overtime is all hours worked in excess of: eight hours a day, or 44 hours a week. Overtime hours are to be calculated both on a daily and on a weekly basis. The higher of the two numbers is overtime hours worked in the week. All employees, including those who are paid a weekly, monthly, or annual salary, must be paid overtime pay for overtime hours they work.

Overtime Question # 16 True or False Employees and employers may enter into a written overtime agreement to provide employees with time off with regular pay to the number of overtime hours worked.

How is Overtime Paid? Overtime must be paid at the rate of at least 1.5 times the employee's regular wage rate. The sole exception applies where the overtime is accumulated under an overtime agreement. Employees, who are paid exclusively by incentive pay such as commission, piecework or a similar method, have no established rate of pay. Therefore, for the purpose of calculating overtime entitlements the wage rate is deemed to be the minimum wage. If the incentive pay is less than what would have been earned applying the minimum wage, the employer must top up the incentive pay earnings. If an employee is paid by a combination of salary and incentive pay, and the salary is greater than minimum wage, the salary establishes the hourly rate for the purpose of calculating overtime entitlements.

Basic Vacation Pay Entitlement The entitlement to vacations and vacation pay are intended to ensure that employees annually have a rest from work without loss of income. The basic entitlement to annual vacations is as follows: after one year of employment, employees are entitled to two weeks vacation with pay, after five years, employees are entitled to three weeks vacation with pay. Therefore, employees are entitled to take two weeks' vacation in each year from the second to the fifth year of employment, and each year after the fifth anniversary they are entitled to three weeks paid vacation. Vacations must be taken sometime in the 12 months after the employee becomes entitled to the vacation.

Eligibility for General Holiday Pay Question # 17 An employee started a part- time job September 1 st to be paid an hourly wage. The schedule was Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. She questioned why her cheque at the end of October did not include a day’s pay for Thanksgiving day, which fell on Monday, and which she had off. She insisted she was owed for the general holiday as she worked her scheduled shifts before and after the holiday. Is the employee correct? Yes or No

Eligibility for General Holiday Pay Eligible employees are those who have: worked for the employer for at least 30 working days or shifts in the year before the general holiday, worked their last scheduled shift before, and the first scheduled shift after, the holiday (employees will remain eligible if they have the employer's permission to be absent for either or both of these shifts), and not refused to work on the general holiday when asked to do so. If during at least five of the last nine weeks, the employee regularly worked on the day of the week that the general holiday falls, the holiday is to be considered a day that would normally have been a workday for the employee.

General Holidays in Alberta General Holiday Example New Years DayJanuary 1Jan 1 Alberta Family DayThird Monday in FebruaryFeb 19 Good FridayFriday before Easter.*Apr 6 Victoria DayMonday before May 25May 21 Canada DayJuly 1, except when it falls on a Sunday, then it is July 2. Jul 2 Labour DayFirst Monday in SeptemberSep 3 Thanksgiving DaySecond Monday in OctoberOct 8 Remembrance DayNovember 11Nov 11 Christmas DayDecember 25Dec 25

Termination of Employment Question # 18. An employee having worked from August 3 to December 22, wishing to terminate his/her employment must give the employer how much written notice? Question # 19. An employer must give one week notice of employee termination for employment of more then three months, but less than two years. True or False

Right to Terminate As a general principle employees have a right to terminate their employment with an employer and employers have the right to terminate the employment of employees. These rights, however, come with responsibilities. The main responsibility in most cases is to provide notice of intention to terminate. The length of such notice is normally dependent on the duration of the employment with the employer. Where an employer fails to give notice or to give adequate notice, the remedy will be pay for the period of notice that should have been given. Employees too, have a responsibility to provide notice, but failure to do so carries different consequences. In Alberta, employment standards legislation (the Employment Standards Code) sets out minimum responsibilities of employers and employees when employment is terminated, including situations where notice is not required. Enforcement of the minimum standards, where these are breached, is through the involvement of Employment Standards.Employment Standards Code

Minimum Employment Standards Notice Requirements Neither the employer nor employee has a statutory obligation to give notice of termination during the first three months of employment. This is consistent with industry practice that generally treats the first three months of employment as a probationary period. The length of notice an employee is required to give also depends on the duration of employment and should be in writing. If an employee gives proper notice, the employer must pay all earnings to the employee within three days following termination of employment. If an employee quits without proper notice all wages, overtime, holiday and vacation pay is due to the employee within 10 days after the date on which the notice would have expired if it had been given.

Minimum Termination Requirements Employer Initiates Termination one week - for employment of more than three months, but less than two years two weeks - for employment of two years, but less than four years, four weeks - for employment of four years, but less than six years, five weeks - for employment of six years, but less than eight years, six weeks - for employment of eight years, but less than 10 years, and eight weeks - for employment of 10 years or more Employee Initiates Termination one week - for employment of more than three months, but less than two years two weeks - for employment of two years or more.

Paying Employees when Employment is Terminated When an employee loses or quits a job, these rules apply: If the employer gives the required notice, pays termination pay, or gives a combination of termination notice and termination pay, the employee must be paid no later than three consecutive days after the last day of work. If the employer terminates the employment of an employee and is not required to give termination notice or termination pay, the employee's earnings must be paid within 10 consecutive days after the last day of work. If an employee quits a job and provides the employer with written notice as required by the Code, the employer must pay the employee within three consecutive days after the employee's last day of work. If an employee quits and the Code does not require notice to be provided, the employer must pay outstanding earnings within 10 consecutive days after the employee's last day of work. If the Code requires an employee to give notice and quits without providing the required notice, the employer can delay payment of outstanding earnings until 10 consecutive days after the date the notice would have expired, had it been given.

Minimum Compensation Question # 20 A student working at an hourly rate came to his/her place of work and was told that they were not needed for that day. How much is the employer obligated to pay the employee?

3 Hours of wages

That’s all folks !