Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2 (S.C. 2018, c. 27)

Marginal note:Break

• 169.1 (1) Every employee is entitled to and shall be granted an unpaid break of at least 30 minutes during every period of five consecutive hours of work. If the employer requires the employee to be at their disposal during the break period, the employee must be paid for the break.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) An employer may postpone or cancel the break set out in subsection (1) if it is necessary for the employee to work in order to deal with a situation that the employer could not have reasonably foreseen and that presents or could reasonably be expected to present an imminent or serious

  • (a) threat to the life, health or safety of any person;

  • (b) threat of damage to or loss of property; or

  • (c) threat of serious interference with the ordinary working of the employer’s industrial establishment.

Marginal note:Rest period

• 169.2 (1) Every employee is entitled to and shall be granted a rest period of at least eight consecutive hours between work periods or shifts.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Despite subsection (1), an employer may require that an employee work additional hours to their scheduled work periods or shifts which would result in them having a rest period of fewer than eight consecutive hours between their work periods or shifts if it is necessary for the employee to work in order to deal with a situation that the employer could not have reasonably foreseen and that presents or could reasonably be expected to present an imminent or serious

  • (a) threat to the life, health or safety of any person;

  • (b) threat of damage to or loss of property; or

  • (c) threat of serious interference with the ordinary working of the employer’s industrial establishment.

Marginal note:Notice — work schedule

• 173.01 (1) The employer shall provide an employee with their work schedule in writing at least 96 hours before the start of the employee’s first work period or shift under that schedule.

• Marginal note:Right to refuse

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), an employee may refuse to work any work period or shift in their schedule that starts within 96 hours from the time that the schedule is provided to them.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) An employee shall not refuse to work a work period or shift if it is necessary for them to work in order to deal with a situation that the employer could not have reasonably foreseen and that presents or could reasonably be expected to present an imminent or serious

  • (a) threat to the life, health or safety of any person;

  • (b) threat of damage to or loss of property; or

  • (c) threat of serious interference with the ordinary working of the employer’s industrial establishment.

• Marginal note:Exception — subsection 177.1(1)

  (4) Subsection (1) does not apply to a change to an employee’s work schedule following a request made under subsection 177.1(1).

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (5) An employer shall not dismiss, suspend, lay off, demote or discipline an employee because the employee has refused to work a work period or shift under subsection (2) or take such a refusal into account in any decision to promote or train the employee.

• Marginal note:Non-application of subsection 196(4)

  (6) Subsection 196(4) does not apply in respect of a work period or shift that an employee refuses to work under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Non-application — collective agreement

  (7) This section does not apply to employees who are employed under the terms of a collective agreement that specifies an alternate time frame for providing the work schedule or provides that this section does not apply to those employees.

Minimum Wage and Age of Employment

• (f) specifying, for the purposes of section 179, the occupations in which persons under the age of 18 years, or any class of persons under that age, may be employed in an industrial establishment and fixing the conditions of that employment; and

DIVISION II.1Breaks for Medical Reasons or Nursing

Marginal note:Medical break

• 181.1 (1) Subject to the regulations, every employee is entitled to and shall be granted any unpaid breaks that are necessary for medical reasons.

• Marginal note:Certificate

  (2) On written request by the employer, the employee must provide a certificate issued by a health care practitioner setting out the length and frequency of the breaks needed for medical reasons and any additional information that may be prescribed by regulation.

Marginal note:Nursing break

181.2 Subject to the regulations, every employee who is nursing is entitled to and shall be granted any unpaid breaks necessary for them to nurse or to express breast milk.

Marginal note:Regulations

181.3 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) modifying the provisions of sections 181.1 or 181.2 for the purpose of the application of this Division to any class of employees;

• (b) exempting any class of employees from the application of section 181.1 or 181.2;

• (c) respecting the breaks set out in subsection 181.1(1) and section 181.2, including circumstances in which those breaks cannot be taken; and

• (d) respecting additional information to be included in a certificate required under subsection 181.1(2).

Equal Treatment

Marginal note:Prohibition — rate of wages

• 182.1 (1) An employer is prohibited from paying one employee a rate of wages that is less than the rate paid to another of that employer’s employees due to a difference in their employment status, if

  • (a) they work in the same industrial establishment;

  • (b) they perform substantially the same kind of work;

  • (c) the performance of that work requires substantially the same skill, effort and responsibility;

  • (d) their work is performed under similar working conditions; and

  • (e) any other factor that may be prescribed by regulation is present.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the difference in employees’ rates of wages is due to a system based on

  • (a) seniority;

  • (b) merit;

  • (c) the quantity or quality of each employee’s production; or

  • (d) any other criterion that may be prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Prohibition — reduction in rate of wages

  (3) An employer is prohibited from reducing an employee’s rate of wages in order to comply with subsection (1).

Marginal note:Request for review

• 182.2 (1) If an employee who believes that their rate of wages does not comply with subsection 182.1(1) makes a written request to the employer for a review of the rate, the employer must, within 90 days after receiving the request, conduct a review of the employee’s rate of wages and provide the employee with a written response that includes

  • (a) a statement that the employer has increased their rate of wages in order to comply with subsection 182.1(1); or

  • (b) a statement, including reasons, that the employee’s current rate of wages complies with subsection 182.1(1).

• Marginal note:Payment of wages

  (2) If an employer increases an employee’s rate of wages in order to comply with subsection 182.1(1), the employer must pay the employee an amount equal to the difference between the two rates of wages from the day on which the employee makes their request under subsection (1) to the day on which the employer starts paying the employee the increased rate of wages.

• Marginal note:Prohibition — dismissal etc.

  (3) An employer is prohibited from dismissing, suspending, laying off, demoting or disciplining an employee because the employee has made a request under subsection (1) or taking such a request into account in any decision to promote or train the employee.

Marginal note:Notice of employment opportunities

182.3 If an employer carries out a practice of informing employees of employment or promotion opportunities in writing, the employer must inform all their employees, regardless of their employment status.

Marginal note:Regulations

182.4 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) defining any term for the purposes of this Division;

• (b) setting out factors for the purpose of paragraph 182.1(1)(e);

• (c) setting out criteria for the purpose of paragraph 182.1(2)(d);

• (d) modifying the provisions of section 182.1 or 182.2 for the purpose of the application of this Division to any class of employees; and

• (e) exempting any class of employees from the application of section 182.1 or 182.2.