User's guide

The calculation tools available on the web site of the Commission des normes du travail are for information purposes only. They have not been designed to deal with exceptional cases.

We wish to remind you that following the tabling of a complaint, the Act respecting Labour Standards grants the Commission a power of inquiry. If a legal process ensues, the Commission acts as the body representing the employee. It may happen that the result of your calculations is different from the final result following the investigation or the Court’s decision.

When in doubt or for more information, you can consult the section of the site presenting the Act respecting Labour Standards and its regulations or get in touch with the Service des renseignements at the Commission.

• Who are these tools intended for
• The elements making up the various tools
• Entering information
• Possible recourses
• Security

The tools are intended for you:

• if you are an employee within the meaning of the Act respecting Labour Standards;
• if you are an employer subject to the Act

However, some employees are totally or partially excluded from the application of the Act. They include, in particular:

• employees whose exclusive duty is to care for others (until June 1, 2004);
• employees governed by the Act respecting labour relations, vocational training and manpower management in the construction industry. However, they benefit from the right to the main leaves for family or parental matters;
• dependent workers whose remuneration or for whom the tariff which is applicable to them is determined by regulation;
• students who work during the school year in an establishment chosen by an educational institution;
• senior managerial personnel. However, they benefit from the right to the main leaves for family or parental matters;
• employees who are governed by the Canada Labour Code.

When other exceptions apply, they are stipulated at the start of each calculation tool.

employee

A person who works for an employer and who is entitled to a wage; this word also includes a worker who is a party to a contract, under which he or she:
  * iundertakes to perform specified work for a person within the scope and in accordance with the methods and means determined by that person;
  * undertakes to furnish, for the carrying out of the contract, the material, equipment, raw materials or merchandise chosen by that person and to use them in the manner indicated by him or her; and
  * keeps, as remuneration, the amount remaining to him or her from the sum he or she has received in conformity with the contract, after deducting the expenses entailed in the performance of that contract.

employer

Natural or legal person that has work carried out, in return for remuneration, by one or more employees on his/its behalf and under his/its subordination.

Each tool is divided into five parts:

• a short text describing the tool;
• a section used to enter the information (e.g. : number of hours worked, annual wage). In most cases, this information is entered in only one step;
• a button initiating the calculation;
• a table presenting the results. This table is divided into several steps to explain the calculation method used;
• a button making it possible to erase the data and to begin another calculation.

• You can use the information found on your pay sheets, your statement of remuneration for tax purposes and the details of your hours worked. The more the information entered is representative of the actual situation, the more precise the result of the calculation will be.
• For the same tool, the information to be entered may vary according to the type of employee (regular, receiving gratuities, on commission, on piecework basis).
• To facilitate the entry of repetitive information, some tools offer a "Copy" button. This function makes it possible to copy this information and to use it for the other fields where it must be repeated. You always have the possibility of modifying the data copied afterwards.
• The tools allow you to make retroactive calculations over a one-year period, starting from the day's date. Moreover, the tool for calculating the indemnity for statutory holidays offers the possibility of calculating the amounts payable or the amounts receivable for upcoming leaves in the month following the day's date.

If you are an employee and the use of the calculation tools reveals that the amounts received do not comply with the Act, a number of recourses are available to you. For more information on the possible recourses, please consult the section "Your recourses in the event of non-compliance with pecuniary standards".

Before going to one of our offices, it would be helpful if you printed a copy of the calculations made using the tools.

The information entered is not kept in a databank and cannot be related to an investigation file. It is automatically destroyed when:

• you leave the web site of the Commission des normes du travail;
• you leave the tools section;
• you begin another calculation.