Overtime
To help you
Video capsule : Heures supplémentaires Quicktime
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- Labour standards in Québec and domestics residing with their employer (PDF)
- Human Resource Management Guide
What the Act says
The Act respecting labour standards contains provisions concerning overtime that protect the majority of Québec workers, whether they are full or part time.
Length of the normal workweek
The normal workweek usually lasts 40 hours. Its length serves to determine the point in time from which an employee begins to work overtime.
However, for some employees the normal workweek is not 40 hours:
Length of the normal workweek | |
|---|---|
Employees of the clothing industry | 39 hours |
Watchmen who guard a property on behalf of a firm providing surveillance services | 44 hours |
Employees working in a forestry operation or a sawmill | 47 hours |
Employees who work in a remote area or on the James Bay territory | 55 hours |
Watchmen who do not work for a firm providing surveillance services | 60 hours |
The normal workweek is not a period of time beyond which an employee may refuse to work.
Calculation of overtime
The hours worked in addition to the hours of the normal workweek must be paid with a 50% premium in addition to the regular hourly rate (time and a half), without counting the premiums available on an hourly basis such as night shift premiums.
Francis works nights in a supermarket. He is paid $10.00 an hour. To this amount is added a night shift premium of $0.50 an hour. Last week, Francis worked 45 hours. How must his wages be calculated?
The 5 hours exceeding the schedule of a normal workweek must be paid at time and a half. There is no increase in the night premium. Francis will thus receive $15.50 for each hour of overtime.
At the employee’s request, the employer may replace the payment of overtime with a leave of an equivalent duration of the overtime hours worked, increased by 50% (7 hrs = 10 hrs 30 min.).
The annual vacation and statutory holidays are considered days worked for the purposes of calculating overtime.
For some employees, it is the initial agreement that establishes the point in time when they begin to work overtime:
Agreement with a specific number of hours per week
An employee hired for fixed wages to work a predetermined number of hours and who is able to define an hourly rate by dividing the wages by the number of hours worked stipulated in his agreement would seem to be an employee paid at an hourly rate. Hours worked beyond 40 hours should be increased by 50%.
Agreement without a minimum or maximum limit on the number of hours per week
If the agreement stipulates a fixed amount for working an unlimited number of hours of work, with no minimum or maximum, the employer cannot deduct the missing hours if the employee did not work at least 40 hours.
How to calculate the indemnity
The Commission des normes du travail puts at your disposal calculation tools which help establish the amounts to which an employee is entitled.
The calculation of the indemnity is different according to the employee’s remuneration method.
Calculation tools for the indemnity for an:
- employee at the general rate
- employee receiving tips
- employee on commission
- employee paid according to yield
Staggering of working hours
If the Commission des normes du travail gives its authorization, an employer may stagger the working hours over several weeks. The authorization must be posted in the workplace of the employees affected. This authorization from the Commission is not necessary when the staggering of working hours is stipulated in a collective agreement or a decree.
Right to refuse to work
An employee may refuse to work if, on a given day:
- he is asked to work more than 4 hours beyond his regular hours or more than 14 hours per 24-hour period, whichever period is shorter
- he is asked to work more than 12 hours per 24-hour period.
This provision only applies to employees whose daily working hours are variable or non-continuous.
An employee may also refuse to work if, in a given week:
- he is asked to work more than 50 hours, except if his working hours are staggered
- he is asked to work more than 60 hours. This provision only applies to employees who work in a remote area or, more specifically, on the James Bay territory.
An employee cannot refuse to work:
- in the case where the life, health or safety of workers or the public is endangered
- in the case of a risk of destruction of or serious damage to property and buildings, or in another case of superior force
- if this refusal violates his professional code of ethics.
Differences in conditions of employment
An employer cannot give an employee who is subject to the Act respecting labour standards conditions of employment that are less advantageous than those of other employees doing the same work in the same establishment due to his hiring date.
These conditions of employment notably deal with:
- wages
- length of work
- paid statutory holidays
- annual vacation
- rest periods
- absences and leaves for family or parental reasons
- notice of termination of employment.
To learn more, consult section Differences in conditions of employment.
Sections of the Act applicable to this standard
Regulation of the Act applicable to this standard
Exceptions
The standard concerning time and a half does not apply to:
- a student employed in a vacation camp or a social or community non-profit organization such as a recreational organization
- the senior managerial personnel of an enterprise
- an employee who works outside the establishment and whose working hours cannot be controlled
- an employee assigned to canning, packaging and freezing fruit and vegetables during the harvest period
- an employee of a fishing, fish processing or fish canning industry
- a farm worker
- an employee whose exclusive duty is to take care of or provide care to a child or to a sick, handicapped or elderly person, in that person's dwelling, including, where so required, the performance of domestic duties that are directly related to the immediate needs of that person, unless the work serves to procure profit to the employer.
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