Canada Labour Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. L-2)

Marginal note:Offences and punishment

• 256. (1) Every person who

  • (a) contravenes any provision of this Part or the regulations, other than a provision of Division IX, subsection 252(2) or any regulation made pursuant to section 227 or paragraph 264(a),

  • (b) contravenes any order made under this Part or the regulations, or

  • (c) discharges, threatens to discharge or otherwise discriminates against a person because that person

    • (i) has testified or is about to testify in any proceedings or inquiry taken or had under this Part, or

    • (ii) has given any information to the Minister or an inspector regarding the wages, hours of work, annual vacation or conditions of work of an employee,

    is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every employer who contravenes any provision of Division IX or any regulation made pursuant to section 227 is guilty of

  • (a) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars; or

  • (b) an indictable offence and liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Every employer who

  • (a) refuses or fails to keep any record that by subsection 252(2) or any regulation made under paragraph 264(a) the employer is required to keep, or

  • (b) refuses to make available for examination by an inspector at any reasonable time any such record kept by the employer,

  is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for each day during which any such refusal or failure continues.

Marginal note:Procedure

• 257. (1) A complaint or information under this Part may relate to one or more offences by one employer in respect of one or more of his employees.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (2) Proceedings in respect of an offence under this Part may be instituted at any time within but not later than three years after the time when the subject-matter of the proceedings arose.

• Marginal note:Minister’s consent required

  (3) No proceeding against a director of a corporation in respect of an offence under this Part shall be instituted except with the consent of the Minister.

Marginal note:Order to pay arrears of wages

• 258. (1) Where an employer has been convicted of an offence under this Part in respect of any employee, the convicting court shall, in addition to any other punishment, order the employer to pay to the employee any overtime pay, vacation pay, holiday pay or other wages or amounts to which the employee is entitled under this Part the non-payment or insufficient payment of which constituted the offence for which the employer was convicted.

• Marginal note:Reinstatement of pay and position

  (2) Where an employer has been convicted of an offence under this Part in respect of the discharge of an employee, the convicting court may, in addition to any other punishment, order the employer

  • (a) to pay compensation for loss of employment to the employee not exceeding such sum as in the opinion of the court is equivalent to the wages that would have accrued to the employee up to the date of conviction but for such discharge; and

  • (b) to reinstate the employee in his employ at such date as in the opinion of the court is just and proper in the circumstances and in the position that the employee would have held but for such discharge.

• Marginal note:When inaccurate records kept

  (3) In determining the amount of wages or overtime for the purposes of subsection (1), if the convicting court finds that the employer has not kept accurate records as required by this Part or the regulations, the employee affected shall be conclusively presumed to have been employed for the maximum number of hours a week allowed under this Part and to be entitled to the full weekly wage therefor.