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

Marginal note:Minimum wage

• 178. (1) Except as otherwise provided by or under this Division, an employer shall pay to each employee a wage at a rate

  • (a) not less than the minimum hourly rate fixed, from time to time, by or under an Act of the legislature of the province where the employee is usually employed and that is generally applicable regardless of occupation, status or work experience; or

  • (b) where the wages of the employee are paid on any basis of time other than hourly, not less than the equivalent of the rate under paragraph (a) for the time worked by the employee.

• Marginal note:Where wage rate based on age

  (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), where minimum hourly rates for a province are fixed on the basis of age, the minimum hourly rate for that province is the highest of those rates.

• Marginal note:Amendment of minimum wage

  (3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), the Governor in Council may, by order,

  • (a) replace the minimum hourly rate that has been fixed with respect to employment in a province with another rate; or

  • (b) fix a minimum hourly rate with respect to employment in a province if no such minimum hourly rate has been fixed.

• Marginal note:Minimum on other basis than time

  (4) Where the wages of an employee are computed and paid on a basis other than time or on a combined basis of time and some other basis, the Minister may, by order,

  • (a) fix a standard basis of work to which a minimum wage on a basis other than time may be applied; and

  • (b) fix a minimum rate of wage that in the opinion of the Minister is the equivalent of the minimum rate under subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Minimum rate fixed by order to be paid

  (5) Except as otherwise provided by or under this Division, the employer shall pay to each employee who is paid on a basis other than time or on a combined basis of time and some other basis a wage at a rate not less than the minimum rate fixed by order under subsection (4).

Marginal note:Employees under 17 years of age

179. An employer may employ a person under the age of seventeen years only

• (a) in an occupation specified by the regulations; and

• (b) subject to the conditions fixed by the regulations for employment in that occupation.

180. [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 9 (1st Supp.), s. 6]

Marginal note:Regulations applicable to Division

181. The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Division and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

• (a) requiring employers to pay employees who report for work at the call of the employer wages for such minimum number of hours as may be prescribed, whether or not the employee is called on to perform any work after so reporting for work;

• (b) fixing the maximum price to be charged for board, whether full or partial, furnished by or on behalf of an employer to an employee, or the maximum deduction to be made therefor from the wages of the employee by the employer;

• (c) fixing the maximum price to be charged for living quarters, either permanent or temporary, furnished by or on behalf of an employer to an employee, whether or not those quarters are self-contained and whether or not the employer retains general possession and custody thereof, or the maximum deduction to be made therefor from the wages of the employee by the employer;

• (d) governing the charges or deductions for furnishing uniforms or other articles of wearing apparel that an employer may require an employee to wear or requiring an employer in any specified circumstances to provide, maintain or launder uniforms or other articles of wearing apparel that the employer may require an employee to wear;

• (e) governing the charges or deductions for furnishing any tools or equipment that an employer may require an employee to use and for the maintenance and repair of any such tools or equipment;

• (f) specifying, for the purposes of section 179, the occupations in which persons under the age of seventeen years may be employed in an industrial establishment and fixing the conditions of that employment; and

• (g) exempting, on such terms and conditions and for such periods as are considered advisable, any employer from the application of section 178 in respect of any class of employees who are being trained on the job, if the training facilities provided and used by the employer are adequate to provide a training program that will increase the skill or proficiency of an employee.