Federally regulated employees are not required to give their employer notice if they choose to quit. However, when employers decide to terminate a position, they must either give the employee written notice or pay 2 weeks’ regular wages in lieu of notice. When employees resign or are dismissed for just causes, they are not entitled to a notice.
The notice period depends on the time of service. For employees with at least 3 months of continuous service, the notice period is 2 weeks. For 3 to 8 years of service, the notice period is 1 week of notice per year of continuous service.
In the case of collective dismissals of over 50 employees, an additional notice of 16 weeks is required.
Foreign nationals are required to obtain a work permit for most jobs in Canada. The types of documents required depend on the type of work permit noted in the application. There are two types of work permits:
Regulated professions are required to ensure they comply with any regulations respecting English or French language proficiency testing requirements. Additional qualifications are required.
Duration and pay for annual leave differ provincially. In most provinces, employees are entitled to a minimum of 2 weeks of annual leave after completing 1 year of employment with the same employer. After 5 consecutive years of employment with the same employer, the entitlement increases to three weeks of annual vacation, and after 10 years - to 4 weeks. The annual leave and pay vary from province to province.
Annual leave is to be taken only in one period or, if the employee makes a request in writing and the employer approves it in writing, in more than one period.
Employers are required to pay employees who take vacation accumulated annual vacation pay. Any outstanding annual leave compensation must be paid to employees upon termination of employment.
The statutory hours for employees are eight per day or 40 per week. The maximum number of hours of work permitted per week is 48. Where the nature of work in an industrial establishment necessitates irregular distribution of employees' working hours, daily and weekly hours may be calculated as an average for a period of two or more weeks. Regulations allow for different standard working hours for certain industries and types of work.
During a week when one or more holidays occur, the standard hours of work are reduced by eight for each holiday.
Employers must create a policy with general rules on respecting employee’s time outside of working hours. If there are any exceptions to the rules, they must be outlined and justified in the policy. The policy should state the date that the policy comes into effect.
The Labour Code of Canada provides a paid maternity leave of up to 17 weeks, which may begin no earlier than 13 weeks prior to the estimated date of delivery. The leave and benefits vary within provinces ranging from 16 to 19 weeks. Employees whose pregnancy ends after the 19th week of pregnancy is entitled to the same leave entitlements as an employee who has given birth because the experience "generally amounts to the same process." If the pregnancy ends anytime before the 19th week, the employee may still be entitled to leave under the "Medical Leave" provisions of the Code. This leave entitlement is available to the parents in the case of surrogacy as well.
An employer cannot dismiss, suspend, lay off, demote or discipline an employee because she is pregnant, or has applied for or intends to apply for maternity or parental leave, maternity-related reassignment or leave, or modification of her job functions.
Employees on maternity leave who have completed at least 600 insured hours of work in the 52 weeks before the start of their claim are eligible to receive a benefit for up to 15 weeks at the rate of 55% of their regular wages, up to a maximum of CAD 695 per week.
In Canada, experienced adult employees receive the federal minimum wage. Employees working in a province or territory with a higher minimum wage will receive the higher rate. The minimum wage rates vary from CAD 15.00 to CAD 19.75 per hour.
Get the full Country Snapshot with 25 sections of information about labor law in Bahrain.
Your request has been received. We'll be emailing you the country snapshot shortly.
Get the full Country Snapshot with 25 sections of information about labor law in Canada.
Your request has been received. We'll be emailing you the country snapshot shortly.
