What is the Canada Labour Code?
The Canada Labour Code is an Act of Parliament of Canada that was passed in 1967, that lays out rules around labour. The code was created to help control strikes and lockouts, health and safety regulations and employment standards.
In general, the Canada Labour Code applies to industries that are regulated by the federal government, while all other industries are regulated by provincial labour laws. The following are the industries included in the Canada Labour Code:
- Broadcasting
- Telecommunications
- Chartered banks
- Postal services
- Airports
- Air transportation
- Shipping and navigation
- Interprovincial or international transportation
- Any businesses in the Territories or on First Nation Reserves
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Military
For all other industries, businesses are regulated under the provincial government in which they reside.
There are four parts of the Canada Labour Code:
- Part 1: Industrial Relations which deals with collective bargaining between unions and employers
- Part 2: Occupational Health and Safety which deals with the health and safety of workers
- Part 3: Federal Labour Standards which deals with employment standards
- Part 4: Administrative Monetary Penalties (for violators of Part 2 or 3)
Below, we will go through the first three parts and the type of regulations employers in federally regulated industries have available to them to apply.
Canada Labour Code: part one – industrial relations
This part of the Canada Labour Code deals with collective bargaining, dispute resolution, strikes and lockouts. Employees in Canada are allowed to join or create a union which would represent the employees in that particular trade. For instance, there is a union for postal workers that negotiate their contracts or collective agreements.
A collective agreement is an agreement among unionized workers that states what workers are paid, how much vacation time they get and their pension plan. These provisions are agreed upon by workers and then taken to employers to be ratified.
Employers will also organize in order to negotiate workers’ contracts, and these organizations need to be certified with the Canada Labour Relations Board. Employers can either sign the collective agreement and give the workers what they have asked for, or they can negotiate. Both sides however endeavour to make every effort to come up with a collective agreement that works for both workers and employers. If they do not, that is when things such as work stoppages can happen.
The Canada Labour Code has several rules and regulations in regard to collective agreements and strikes which employers can refer to when dealing with a union. To get more information on these rules and regulations, employers are invited to read the Code so that they know exactly how these procedures are to take place.
Canada Labour Code: part two – occupational health and safety
In the Canada Labour Code, it is required that all federally regulated organizations set up an occupational health and safety policy. The policy outlines the responsibilities of the employer and employee. Employees are responsible for taking care of their own health and safety and not putting any colleagues in harm’s way.
According to the Canada Labour Code all federally regulated workers have the following rights with respect to occupational health and safety.
- Right to know: workers have a right to be informed about possible hazards in the workplace and how to protect themselves against them.
- Right to participate: employees have the right to participate in identifying and correcting any occupational health and safety concerns.
- Right to refuse: employees have the right to refuse any work they deem as unsafe.
These three rights are important for employers of federally regulated workers to know so that they can create programs or policies which ensure that these rights are being protected.
It should also be noted that if there is a dispute between an employee and employer about the safety of the workplace, an investigation will happen. For an investigation of workplaces with 20 or more employees, a safety committee with at least two employees needs to be created. For establishments with fewer than 20 employees, there must be a health and safety representative that is not a manager.
Once the investigation is underway, the health and safety committee or representative will meet with labour officers to determine if the worker’s rights were violated. If the Canada Labour Code was violated, the organization can be fined up to $1,000,000 or the proprietor could be put into jail for up to two years. It is vital for all federally regulated businesses to have good health and safety regulations and keep their workers safe.
Canada Labour Code: part three – federal labour standards
This part of the Canada Labour Code defines labour standards that every federally regulated business must provide their workers. An example of this is the eight-hour work day and forty-hour work week.
Each worker that is considered full-time should be given a schedule of an eight-hour work day for five days a week or a combination of hours that add up to forty hours per week (7 consecutive days) with at least one full 24-hour period off between weeks. This means, that if your workers exceed 40 hours a week, they must receive overtime pay at a rate of at least one and one-half times the normal wage.
Let’s look at a few examples to understand the implications of this regulation. If your organization works from Monday to Friday and work is done from 9 am to 5 pm, then any full-time worker should have 40 hours of work per week with two days off per week. If a worker was to work 45 hours on any given week, they would be paid 1.5 x their regular pay per hour for the five extra hours.
Some businesses run better at longer shifts per day, meaning they might do a ten-hour shift, four days a week, having three days off in between. If a worker with that schedule were to work an extra shift or an extra ten hours, that entire shift would be paid as overtime. These two examples should give you the required information for wage regulations according to the Canada Labour Code.
This part of the Canada Labour Code not only lays out what is expected of employers in terms of wages but also in terms of time off. There are regulations for:
- Paid-time off
- Vacation pay
- Federally regulated holidays
- Leave of absence such as parental leave
Related: Different Types of Leave in Canada
It is prudent for all employers of federally regulated workplaces to know the exact permissions workers have for time off so that they can set up their policies properly.
The following are the other regulations that can be found in this section of the Canada Labour code:
- Termination of an employee
- Sexual harassment
- Discrimination
- Bullying or harassment
Having a good understanding of the Canada Labour Code is important for all federally regulated industries as it will impact the types of procedures and policies to make for your employees. By using this guide, you can have a good overview of what is needed as an employer of workers in a federally regulated industry.
