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

Marginal note:Regulations

251.16 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the operation of sections 251.001, 251.1, 251.101 and 251.13 to 251.15.

Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

251.17 The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply in respect of internal audit orders, compliance orders, payment orders, notices of unfounded complaint, notices of voluntary compliance or orders to debtors.

Marginal note:Civil liability of directors

251.18 Directors of a corporation are jointly and severally liable for wages and other amounts to which an employee is entitled under this Part, to a maximum amount equivalent to six months’ wages, to the extent that

• (a) the entitlement arose during the particular director’s incumbency; and

• (b) recovery of the amount from the corporation is impossible or unlikely.

Marginal note:Cooperatives

251.19 For the purposes of section 251.18 and subsection 257(3), cooperatives shall be deemed to be corporations.

Information and Returns

Marginal note:Information and returns

• 252 (1) Every employer shall furnish any information that the Head may require that relate to their employees, including their wages, their hours of work and their general holidays, annual vacations and conditions of work as well as any returns that the Head may require.

• Marginal note:Records to be kept

  (2) Every employer shall make and keep for a period of at least 36 months after work is performed the records required to be kept by regulations made under paragraph 264(1)(a) and those records shall be available at all reasonable times for examination by the Head.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in respect of hours worked by employees who are

  • (a) excluded from the application of Division I under subsection 167(2); or

  • (b) exempt from the application of sections 169 and 171 pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 175(1)(b).

Marginal note:Notice to furnish information

• 253 (1) Where the Head is authorized to require a person to furnish information under this Part or the regulations, the Head may require the information to be furnished by a notice to that effect served by personal service, by registered mail addressed to the latest known address of the addressee, or by any other means prescribed by regulation, and that person

  • (a) if the notice is sent by registered mail, is deemed to have received the notice on the seventh day after the day on which it was mailed; and

  • (b) shall furnish the information within such reasonable time as is specified in the notice.

• Marginal note:Proof of service

  (2) A certificate purporting to be signed by the Head certifying that a notice was sent by registered mail or by any other means prescribed by regulation to the addressee, accompanied by a true copy of the notice and by an identifying post office certificate of the registration or other proof, prescribed by regulation, that the notice has been sent or received, is admissible in evidence and is proof of the statements contained in the certificate, without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed the certificate.

• Marginal note:Proof of failure to comply

  (3) Where the Head is authorized to require a person to furnish information under this Part or the regulations, a certificate of the Head certifying that the information has not been furnished is admissible in evidence and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary is proof of the statements contained in it.

• Marginal note:Proof of documents

  (4) A certificate of the Head certifying that a document annexed to it is a document or a true copy of the document made by or on behalf of the Head shall be admitted in evidence and has the same force and effect as if it had been proven in the ordinary way.

• Marginal note:Proof of authority

  (5) A certificate under this section signed or purporting to be signed by the Head is admissible in evidence without proof of the Head’s appointment or signature.

• Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

  (6) The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply in respect of notices referred to in subsection (1).

Information Related to Employment

Marginal note:Copy — employee

• 253.1 (1) An employer must, within the first 30 days of an employee’s employment, provide the employee with a copy of any materials that the Head makes available and that contains information respecting employers’ and employees’ rights and obligations under this Part and, within 30 days after updated materials are made available, provide the employee with a copy of the updated materials.

• Marginal note:Materials to be posted

  (2) An employer must post and keep posted the most recent version of the materials referred to in subsection (1), in readily accessible places where it is likely to be seen by employees.

• Marginal note:Termination

  (3) If an employee’s employment is terminated by the employer, the employer must, not later than the last day of the employee’s employment, provide the employee with a copy of the most recent version of the materials referred to in subsection (1) that relate to terminations of employment.

Marginal note:Employment statement

• 253.2 (1) An employer must, within the first 30 days of an employee’s employment, provide the employee with a written statement containing information relating to their employment that is prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Updated information

  (2) An employer must provide an employee with an updated employment statement within 30 days after any change is made to the information contained in the last statement that was provided to the employee.

• Marginal note:Employer’s duties

  (3) An employer must retain a copy of any employment statement provided under this section for 36 months after the employee’s employment with the employer ends and, on request, the employee must be provided with additional copies.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (4) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing the information that must be included in a employment statement provided under this section.

Marginal note:Pay statement

• 254 (1) An employer shall, at the time of making any payment of wages to an employee, furnish the employee with a statement in writing setting out

  • (a) the period for which the payment is made;

  • (b) the number of hours for which the payment is made;

  • (c) the rate of wages;

  • (d) details of the deductions made from the wages; and

  • (e) the actual sum being received by the employee.

• Marginal note:Exemption

  (2) The Minister may, by order, exempt any employer from any or all of the requirements of subsection (1).

Deductions

Marginal note:General rule

• 254.1 (1) No employer shall make deductions from wages or other amounts due to an employee, except as permitted by or under this section.

• Marginal note:Permitted deductions

  (2) The permitted deductions are

  • (a) those required by a federal or provincial Act or regulations made thereunder;

  • (b) those authorized by a court order or a collective agreement or other document signed by a trade union on behalf of the employee;

  • (c) amounts authorized in writing by the employee;

  • (d) overpayments of wages by the employer; and

  • (e) other amounts prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Damage or loss

  (3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2)(c), no employer shall, pursuant to that paragraph, make a deduction in respect of damage to property, or loss of money or property, if any person other than the employee had access to the property or money in question.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (4) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing:

  • (a) deductions that an employer is permitted to make in addition to those permitted by this section; and

  • (b) the manner in which the deductions permitted by this section may be made by the employer.

Combining Federal Works, Undertakings and Businesses

Marginal note:Orders of Minister combining federal works, undertakings and businesses

• 255 (1) Where associated or related federal works, undertakings and businesses are operated by two or more employers having common control or direction, the Minister may, after affording to the employers a reasonable opportunity to make representations, by order, declare that for all purposes of this Part the employers and the federal works, undertakings and businesses operated by them that are specified in the order are, respectively, a single employer and a single federal work, undertaking or business.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Where an order is made under subsection (1), the employers to which it applies are jointly and severally liable to the employees employed in the federal works, undertakings and businesses to which the order applies for overtime pay, vacation pay, holiday pay and other wages or amounts to which the employees are entitled under this Part.

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:Offences and punishment

• 256 (1) Every person is guilty of an offence who

  • (a) contravenes any provision of this Part or the regulations, other than a provision of Division IX, subsection 239.1(2), 239.2(1), 251.001(9) or 252(2) or any regulation made under section 227 or paragraph 264(1)(a) or (a.1);

  • (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 the Head regarding the wages, hours of work, annual vacation or conditions of work of an employee.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (1.1) Every person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction

  • (a) in the case of an employer that is a corporation,

    • (i) for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $50,000,

    • (ii) for a second offence, to a fine of not more than $100,000, and

    • (iii) for each subsequent offence, to a fine of not more than $250,000; and

  • (b) in all other cases,

    • (i) for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $10,000,

    • (ii) for a second offence, to a fine of not more than $20,000, and

    • (iii) for each subsequent offence, to a fine of not more than $50,000.

• Marginal note:Second or subsequent offence

  (1.2) For the purposes of subsection (1.1), in determining whether a person convicted of an offence has committed a second or subsequent offence, an earlier offence may be taken into account only if the person was convicted of the earlier offence within the five-year period immediately before the day on which the person is convicted of the offence for which sentence is being imposed.

• Marginal note:Offences — employers

  (2) Every employer that contravenes any provision of Division IX, subsection 239.1(2) or 239.2(1) or any regulation made under section 227 is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine of not more than $250,000.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Every employer who

  • (a) fails to keep any record that, by subsection 252(2) or any regulation made under paragraph 264(1)(a) or (a.1), the employer is required to keep, or

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

  is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000 for each day during which the refusal or failure continues.