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

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.