Can my Employer Force Me To Work Weekends Without Extra Pay? In Ontario, whether an employer can ask an employee to work weekends without additional pay is highly dependent on an employee’s classification, and whether they have signed an employment agreement or other agreement to work those hours. Subject to certain exceptions, employees in Ontario are required to receive overtime pay for each hour of work in excess of 44 hours in each work week under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”). Each hour of overtime is paid at a rate of at least 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate.
Do I have to get extra pay for overtime?
However, if an employer and an employee agree in writing, overtime can be compensated by providing paid time off in lieu of overtime. In these cases, the employee can receive 1.5 hours of paid time off work for each hour of overtime worked, instead of receiving overtime pay. An employer and an employee may also enter into an averaging agreement, where an employee’s hours may be averaged over a specified number of weeks, provided that the averaging period does not exceed four weeks.
Can overtime be compensated with time off instead of pay?
Exceptions to overtime rules can apply for certain professions. For example, certain professions such as practitioners of architecture, law, engineering, accounting, medicine, etc. would not receive overtime pay for their work. Similarly, employees whose work is considered to be supervisory or managerial in nature would also be exempted from the overtime provisions. The exception applies for employees who either exclusively perform managerial or supervisory work, or to those who perform non-supervisory or non-managerial tasks either on an irregular basis or an exceptional basis.
It is important for an employee to review whether they are considered exempt from the overtime provisions in the ESA, or whether they have signed an agreement with their employer with respect to how overtime is compensated. If a non-exempt employee performs overtime without proper compensation under the ESA or through an agreement with their employer, it is possible for the employee to make a claim against the employer with respect to outstanding payments.
How can Whitten & Lublin help?
If you have a potential claim for outstanding payments with respect to working overtime, contact us for further information regarding your entitlements online or by phone at 416 640 2667.
Author – Abby Leung
