This module allows researchers to explore the features of employment standards (ES) related to working time, rest periods, and overtime across different jurisdictions. It is organized around two key research questions:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n This module is comprised of an introduction to the ESD\u2019s organizing themes and concepts surrounding working time and a description of the indicators devised on the basis of legislative details governing working time in the jurisdictions covered by the ESD. It also includes statistical tables incorporating survey data, a searchable library<\/a> of published and unpublished papers, books and other resources, and a thesaurus of terms. These elements seek to provide a package of conceptual tools and guidelines for research.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Weekly and Daily Maximums<\/i><\/span>: Limits on working time are critical to fostering health and safety among employees, maintaining distinctions between \u2018work time\u2019 and \u2018non-work time\u2019, and ensuring that employees can engage in activities beyond work, including domestic and caring work as well as leisure activities. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Establishing limits on hours of work emerged as a key struggle of labour movements from the mid-1800s. Limits on working hours established in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century applied primarily to children (Lee, McCann, & Messenger, 2007). In Britain, the British Factory Act of 1833 established a 12-hour working day for youth between 13 and 18 years of age (Vosko, 2010, p. 28). In Ontario, maximum hour regulations date to the Factories Act of 1884 which set a 60-hour weekly maximum for women and children (Thomas, 2004; Tucker, 1990). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Subsequent legislation adopted in numerous jurisdictions established maximum hour limits for most adults. Many European countries adopted legislation establishing a 10-hour daily limit by the beginning of World War One (Lee, McCann, & Messenger, 2007). The first International Labour Organization (ILO) convention adopted in 1919 set an 8-hour daily maximum and a 48-hour weekly maximum. Subsequently, in Ontario, the 1944 Hours of Work and Vacations with Pay Act was the first working time legislation in the province to apply to adult workers, both male and female. It established maximum hours of work of 8 per day and 48 per week for employees in all \u2018industrial undertakings.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Employment standards set limits on working hours in several ways. First, they can establish the maximum number of work hours an employee can work in a day and a week. Such maximums vary by jurisdiction. For example, in Ontario, the daily maximum is 8 hours, or the number of hours in an established regular workday. The 8-hour limit can be exceeded if there is a written agreement between the employee and employer. The weekly limit on hours of work in Ontario is 48 hours for most employees. Exceeding this limit is also possible if there is a written agreement between the employee and the employer. While not an in depth focus in the ESD, France is notable for its relatively low weekly limit of 35 hours for workplaces with more than 20 employees, introduced in 2000. By contrast, in the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not set out maximum daily or weekly work hours. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Minimum Time Free from Work<\/i><\/span>: Limits on maximum working hours are not the only way that employment standards can limit working time. Employment standards can also establish a legal minimum amount of time free from work, often in the form of a minimum number of hours free from work each day, and\/or a minimum number of hours free from work each week. Such standards have been an important factor in fostering the 40-hour per week convention of the standard employment relationship.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Ontario, legislation establishing a mandatory period free from work was the first form of working time regulation. The Lord\u2019s Day Act of 1845 prohibited a range of activities on Sundays, including employment. Several ILO conventions address the right of workers to 24 hours free from work per week, including the Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 and Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside employment standards, the need for working time limits is recognized in human rights policies. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes a right to \u2018reasonable limitation\u2019 on working time and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights calls for working hour limits as a condition of just working conditions (Lee, McCann, &, Messenger, 2007). In addition, the <\/span>European Working Time Directive<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span> requires EU countries to enforce a weekly limit on working hours not exceeding 48 hours including overtime, a minimum daily rest period of 11 hours, and a minimum weekly rest period of at least 24 consecutive hours, among other provisions. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Overtime regulations are another way in which employment standards shape working time in a given jurisdiction. Overtime hours are hours worked beyond a fixed daily or weekly threshold that varies by jurisdiction. For example, in the US, under the FLSA, the overtime threshold is 40 hours per week. In Ontario, the overtime threshold is 44 hours per week. Employees who work overtime hours may be entitled to an overtime premium above their basic rate of pay. For example, in both Ontario and the US, employees entitled to the overtime premium can earn 1.5 times their basic rate of pay for overtime hours. The requirement to pay employees a premium for working overtime is intended to limit employers\u2019 reliance on long working hours, and it works in conjunction with other working time regulations to shape the 40-hour week convention. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Overtime regulations are circumscribed in numerous ways. Some jurisdictions allow for averaging agreements. These are agreements between an employee and an employer that allow for hours of work to be averaged over two or more weeks for the purposes of calculating entitlement to overtime pay. Averaging means that overtime pay will be payable only if the average number of hours per week in the averaging period exceeds the overtime threshold. Many jurisdictions have established numerous exemptions that limit certain employees\u2019 access to overtime pay. In the US, under the FLSA, Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer, and Outside Sales Employees are exempt from overtime pay. In Ontario, overtime pay exemptions exist for Homecare Workers, Farm Employees, and Managers\/Supervisors, among many others. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Employment standards can also set minimum rest periods. In the UK, for example, employees have the right to a rest break during working hours of no less than 20 minutes if they work over six hours in a day. In Ontario, employees are entitled to a 30-minute eating period after no more than five hours of work. Employees and employers can agree to split this eating period into two breaks of 15 minutes. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n A combination of legislation and collective bargaining helped to establish the 40 hour per week and 8 hour per day norm of full-time employment, which reached its apex in industrialized countries following World War Two (Fudge, 1991). This norm of working time was premised on a gender contract of male breadwinning and female dependent caregiving. Yet this norm has undergone erosion for several decades. The growing participation of women in the paid labour force, the growth of part-time work, more diverse patterns of lifelong learning, and the growing range of leaves available to employees are fostering work arrangements that diverge from the postwar standard of working time. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Changes to working time norms are also fueled by increasingly flexible forms of work organization. The rise of just-in-time and lean production, and more recently, automated scheduling technology, have led to new ways of scheduling workers more closely driven by the varying volume of businesses\u2019 activities (Lee, McCann, &, Messenger, 2007; Thomas, 2007). In many sectors there has been growing unpredictability in the working time of employees, especially in relation to on-call work, schedules with short notice, zero-hours contracts, among other developments. Increasingly flexible scheduling practices impose difficulties on employees\u2019 ability to manage extra-work activities, engage in care work, or hold a second job. Such practices exacerbate workplace power imbalances and further diminish employees\u2019 control over the labour process. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to deepening insecurity in the area of working time, workers\u2019 advocates are calling for the passage of legislation that establishes in law principles of fair scheduling. Such principles might include a legal requirement for employers to provide employees two weeks\u2019 notice of their schedule, and to provide new employees a good-faith estimate of the minimum hours of work per month and the days and hours of those shifts. In response to workers\u2019 advocates\u2019 demands, numerous jurisdictions are adopting policies that provide employees with greater degrees of predictability and fairness in working time arrangements. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/a> Working time indicators can be grouped into three important areas: \u201cRegular Working Time,\u201d \u201cOvertime,\u201d and \u201cPeriods Free from Paid Work.\u201d The purpose of these measures is to identify the degree to which survey respondents are entitled to maximum working time coverage as well as overtime regulations given their occupation and workplace information. Overall, these indicators can be examined to better understand the employment standards related to overtime compensation policies and regulation across different jurisdictions in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a> First, six variables capture information on regular working time. Two variables capture the usual and actual hours worked per week (WT01G1, WT02G1). These variables measure if a person\u2019s usual and actual weekly working hours are above the jurisdictional maximum working hours in their main or all jobs. Second, two variables focus on the measures of whether a respondent works overtime and their overtime compensati<\/font><\/span><\/span>on (WT03G1, WT04G1)<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Detailed information on regulations in different jurisdictions in this module provides guidance for understanding the national contexts of employment standards related to limits on working time, overtime, and periods free from paid work. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Work hours, rest, and overtime are all regulated under Part III of the Canada Labour Code (CLC), which applies to workers in federally regulated industries. The CLC specifies that its regulations should be considered minimal conditions and should not affect any rights or benefits granted by law, custom, contract, or arrangement (including collective agreements) that are more favorable to an employee. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The CLC specifies standard work hours on a daily and weekly basis. The standard work hours are 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. The maximum hours an employee may work each week is 48 hours. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The CLC allows employers flexibility over the scheduling of both standard work hours and maximum work hours by permitting, averaging, and modified work schedules. When the nature of work in an industrial establishment necessitates irregular working hours due to seasonal or other factors, the employer is allowed to average the total daily and weekly hours worked over two or more weeks. This can be done for a specified period agreed to in writing by the employer and the employees\u2019 union or, in the absence of a union or collective agreement, in a vote in which at least 70 percent of affected employees agree to it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Modified work schedules<\/span> <\/i>refer to schemes such as compressed work weeks and flexible hours of work. For example, employees may be scheduled to work 10 hours a day for four days a week, instead of eight hours a day for five days a week. The requirements to establish a modified work schedule are similar to those required under averaging arrangements.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exemptions:<\/i><\/span> Hours of work provisions do not apply to employees who are managers or superintendents or exercise management functions. Architects, dentists, engineers, lawyers, and medical doctors are also exempt. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Special Rules: Special rules regarding hours of work apply to employees in Trucking, East Coast and Great Lakes shipping, West Coast shipping, Railways, and Commission salespersons in Broadcasting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ministerial Permits:<\/i><\/span> An employer may apply to the Minister of Labour for a permit to allow employees to work in excess of the maximum permitted hours if there are exceptional circumstances to justify this. The Minister may issue such a permit if: s\/he is convinced of the legitimacy of the employer\u2019s need; the employer had posted a notice of the application for a permit for at least 30 days before its proposed effective date, in places readily accessible to the affected class of employees where they were likely to see it; or those employees are represented by a trade union and the employer had informed the trade union in writing of the application for the permit. The permit should specify the period for such modification, which should be no longer than the period within which the exceptional circumstances that justified the permit are expected to continue. It should also specify that either: (a) the total of the number of additional hours in excess of the maximum weekly hours; or (b) the additional hours that may be worked in any day and in any week during the period of the permit.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Emergency Work: The maximum hours of work in a week may be exceeded in cases of: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ontario Employment Standards Act (ESA) specifies maximum working hours on both a daily and a weekly basis.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The maximum number of hours most employees can be required or allowed to work in a day is 8 hours, or the number of hours an employer has established as the employee\u2019s regular work day, if it is longer than eight hours. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The maximum number of hours most employees can be required to work in a week is 48 hours. The weekly maximum can be exceeded, up to a maximum of 60 hours per week, if: i. there is a written agreement between the employer and the employee, signed after the employee has been provided with the document entitled \u201cInformation for Employees About Hours of Work and Overtime Pay,\u201d published by the Director of Employment Standards; or ii. the employer receives approval from the Director of Employment Standards. However, if the approval is still pending after 30 days of putting in the request, the employer may require employees to start working more than 48 hours a week as long as certain conditions are met, and the employee does not work more than 60 hours in a work week, or the number of hours the employee agreed to in writing, whichever is less. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n An agreement between an employee and an employer to work additional daily or weekly hours, or an approval from the Director of Employment Standards for excess weekly hours, does not relieve an employer from the requirement to pay overtime pay where overtime hours are worked. Overtime must be paid for every hour worked over 44 hours in week (see the section on Overtime Pay for more information).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The ESA does not contain any restrictions on the timing of an employee\u2019s shift other than the requirements for daily rest and rest between shifts described below. It also does not require an employer to provide transportation to or from work if an employee works late.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Commuting time is usually not seen as working time. Commuting time for an employee who has a regular work location is the time it takes him or her to get to work from home and vice versa. There are some situations where commuting time has been seen as working time (e.g., an employee takes a work vehicle home in the evening for the convenience of the employer or where the employee is required to transport supplies or other staff to or from the workplace or work site). The time an employee spends getting to or from a place where work was or will be performed, if it is not the employee\u2019s regular workplace, is also considered working time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Time spent by an existing employee in training that is required by the employer or by law is considered to be working time. Time spent in training that is optional to the employee (i.e., not required by the employer in order for the employee to continue in his or her job) would not be considered working time. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exemptions: <\/i><\/span>Several categories of employees and professionals are exempt from the ESA\u2019s provisions around maximum working time. Those employees not covered by the ESA\u2019s maximum working time regulations include: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a>KEY CONCEPTS<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Limits on Working Time<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Overtime<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Rest Periods<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Working Time Conventions in Transition<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a> INDICATORS <\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>JURISDICTION MAPPING INFORMATION<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Legal Maximum Number of Work Hours per Week<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>CANADA<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Special Situations<\/span>, number of overtime hours worked per week (paid and unpaid), and<\/a>Special Situations<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/a><\/a> ONTARIO<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Special Situations<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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