When applying for a job it is good to know what are your rights as an employee. In Canada each province has it’s own legislation and employment standards. Even the minimum wage is established by the province and is not the same in each territory. We recommend to read about your rights as an employee so you will know what you can expect when you start working for a new employer.
The employment standards legislation protects amongst others the following rights:
- Hours of work and overtime
- The minimum wage
- public holidays
- vacation pay
- Pay period and statement of wages and deductions
- Work and safety
Work and safety
Part of the work and safety is defined in the Canadian Labour Code. The Canadian Labour Code applies to the federally regulated sectors like banks, air transportation, radio and television broadcasting and several other sectors. The Canadian Labour Code regulates about 820.000 employees in Canada. This means that only a small part of the employees are regulated by the federal law. However, working for telecom company or an airline is a popular student job so double check if a company is regulated by the federal Labour Code or not.
Human rights
Human rights are regulated by the Canadian Human Rights Act. When hiring new staff employers are not allowed to discriminate based on race, religion, ethnic origin, skin colour, sex, age, marital status, disability or sexual orientation. In case this occurs you can either file a complaint at a provincial human rights commission or at the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Employee rights by province
We gathered the most important of the provincial labour codes. The links below will redirect you to the summary of the provincial up to date labour code.
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec
- Saskatchewan
If you like to get more information about workers rights we recommend visiting
Service Canada’s website