Working Hours in Canada: Overtime Rules by Province (2026)

There is no single Canadian working time law. The Constitution divides labor jurisdiction between federal and provincial governments. Federally regulated industries (banks, telecoms, interprovincial transport, federal Crown corporations, about 6 percent of the Canadian workforce) follow the Canada Labour Code. Most other employees are covered by the labor standards act of their province or territory. The result: 14 different working time regimes, with materially different limits, overtime thresholds, and recordkeeping rules.

Quick answer: In most provinces and territories the standard workweek is 40 hours, with overtime at 1.5x beyond it. Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and (since June 30, 2026) PEI trigger overtime at 44 hours, Nova Scotia at 48, and federally regulated industries follow the Canada Labour Code: 8 hours a day, 40 a week, with a 48-hour weekly cap.

This post maps the main provinces, identifies the federal regime, and points out where compliance differs most.

#Full-Time Hours in Canada

No federal or provincial employment standards act defines "full-time". The definition in common use comes from Statistics Canada: full-time means usually working 30 hours or more per week at your main job, and part-time means fewer than 30. It is a national definition, so the answer is the same in Quebec, Ontario, or any other province.

What the employment standards acts do set is the standard workweek, the point where overtime starts: 40 hours in most provinces and territories and in federally regulated industries, 44 in Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and PEI, and 48 in Nova Scotia. The sections below cover each regime.

Over a year, a 40-hour week comes to 2,080 paid hours (40 × 52). A federally regulated employee with the minimum two weeks of vacation and 10 paid statutory holidays works about 1,920 of them.

#The Federal Regime (Canada Labour Code Part III)

Applies to federally regulated industries:

• Standard hours: 8 per day, 40 per week
• Maximum hours: 48 per week (overtime kicks in at 40, hard cap at 48 except under an excess hours permit from the Head of Compliance and Enforcement, or in an emergency)
• Overtime rate: 1.5x the regular rate
• Daily rest: 8 hours between shifts (effective 2019)
• Weekly rest: 1 day per week
• Annual leave: 2 weeks (10 days) up to 5 years of service; 3 weeks (15 days) from 5 years; 4 weeks (20 days) from 10 years
• Statutory holidays: 10 paid federal holidays per year
• Record retention: 36 months

The federal regime updated in 2019 to add 8-hour daily rest, 30-minute meal break after 5 hours, and 5 days of personal leave (the first 3 paid once the employee has 3 months of continuous employment).

#Ontario (Employment Standards Act 2000)

The most populous province. ESA Part VII sets working time rules:

Ontario's 44-hour overtime trigger is notable: it's higher than the federal 40, meaning employers can run a 44-hour standard week without paying overtime, as long as the daily cap is respected.

The ESA's recordkeeping requirements (Section 15) specify:

• Hours of work each day and each workweek
• For employees on a fixed salary, only the hours beyond 8 a day and beyond the regular workweek
• Wages paid, vacation pay accrued, public holiday pay

The Ministry of Labour (now Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development) enforces.

#Quebec (Loi sur les normes du travail)

Quebec's labor standards are governed by the Loi sur les normes du travail (LNT). Notably different from English-Canadian provinces:

Quebec's labour-standards register (under the LNT) must be kept for 3 years, comparable to most provinces. The often-cited 6-year figure is the federal tax and source-deduction (CPP/QPP/EI/income tax) retention rule, which applies across all of Canada, not a Quebec-specific labour-standards duty. The Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) enforces the LNT.

The 2018 amendments to the LNT lowered the service requirement for a third week of vacation to 3 years and made two days a year of absence for sickness or family obligations paid. Employees can also refuse to work more than 2 hours beyond their regular daily hours (or more than 14 hours in 24), or more than 50 hours a week.

#British Columbia (Employment Standards Act)

BC has daily overtime, as do Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the three territories and the federal regime; Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces count overtime by the week only. The 2x rate for hours over 12 in a day is also distinctive.

#Alberta (Employment Standards Code)

Alberta uses "whichever is greater" for daily vs weekly overtime, which means a worker with 9 hours on Monday and 35 hours on the remaining four days still gets overtime for the 9th hour even though weekly total is only 44.

#Other Provinces and Territories: Quick Map

#Recordkeeping: Common Themes

Most Canadian regimes require records of:

• Daily and weekly hours worked
• Overtime hours and pay
• Wages, vacation pay accrued, holiday pay
• Personal information (name, address, etc.)
• Employment history (dates, classifications, rates)

Retention varies:

• 5 years (Saskatchewan: records cover the last 5 years of employment and are kept 2 years after the employee leaves)
• 4 years (BC, Newfoundland and Labrador)
• 3 years (federal, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI)
• 2 years (Northwest Territories, Nunavut) and 12 months (Yukon)
• 6 years for federal tax and source-deduction records (CPP/QPP/EI/income tax), nationwide

Records can be electronic or paper. Inspectors can request them on demand.

#Federal vs Provincial: How to Tell Which Applies

This is a key question for any Canadian employer. The general rule: the activity, not the location, determines jurisdiction.

Approximately 6 percent of Canadian workers are federally regulated. A misclassification can be expensive; rules differ significantly.

#Common Themes Across Canada

Despite the variation, certain patterns hold:

• Overtime triggers between 40 and 48 hours weekly. No Canadian jurisdiction goes above 48.
• 1.5x premium is universal. New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador apply it to the minimum wage rather than the regular rate, and BC adds a 2x tier for very long days.
• 2 weeks of leave minimum, scaling with tenure in most jurisdictions. Saskatchewan is the most generous (3 weeks from the first year, 4 after 10 years).
• 30-minute meal break after 5 hours. Almost universal.
• Records for 3 years in most jurisdictions. Saskatchewan (5 years), BC and Newfoundland and Labrador (4) keep labour-standards records longer, the territories shorter; federal tax records run 6 years nationwide.

#Practical Compliance Checklist

1. Determine federal vs provincial jurisdiction. Misclassification means applying the wrong rules.
2. Apply the right province's rules to each employee. Multi-province employers track this per worker.
3. Track daily and weekly hours for everyone in scope. Universal requirement.
4. Calculate overtime per the applicable regime. Daily vs weekly trigger matters wherever a daily threshold applies: BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the territories and federal.
5. Honor the meal break and daily rest. The federal 8-hour rest between shifts has applied since 2019.
6. Retain records for the applicable period. Labour-standards records run 3 years in most jurisdictions (from 12 months in Yukon to 5 years in Saskatchewan); federal tax and source-deduction records must be kept 6 years nationwide.

#Common Questions

Are tipped workers exempt from overtime? No. Tipped workers (restaurant servers, etc.) are covered by overtime rules. Quebec still has a lower minimum wage for tipped employees, but overtime applies on hours, not tips.

What about salaried employees? Most provinces still require overtime for salaried non-managerial workers above the threshold. Exemptions are narrower than the US FLSA: typically genuine managers and certain professional categories.

Are remote workers covered? Yes. The applicable jurisdiction is determined by where the worker normally performs work (not the employer's location), so a work hours tracker for remote workers needs to follow the rules of the worker's home province.

Are public holidays separate from annual leave? Yes. Each jurisdiction has its own statutory holidays (federally 10; provincial vary). They are paid days off separate from annual leave.

What about paid sick leave? Federally regulated employees can earn up to 10 days of paid medical leave a year (since December 2022). Provincial rules vary widely: BC (5 days), Quebec (2 days) and PEI (1 to 3 days, depending on service) have paid sick days; most other provinces and territories provide unpaid sick leave only.

#Summary

• Canada has 14 working time regimes: one federal, ten provincial, three territorial
• Overtime triggers range from 40 to 48 hours weekly
• Daily overtime exists in the federal regime, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the territories; Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces use a weekly trigger only
• Annual leave: 2 to 4 weeks scaling with tenure; Saskatchewan most generous
• Record retention: 3 years in most jurisdictions (incl. Quebec's LNT register), 4 in BC and Newfoundland and Labrador, 5 in Saskatchewan, less in the territories; federal tax records 6 years nationwide
• Federal vs provincial determined by industry, not location

#Sources

• Canada Labour Code on laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
• Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000
• Quebec Loi sur les normes du travail
• BC Employment Standards Act
• Alberta Employment Standards Code

#Where to Go Next

• FLSA overtime in the USA: time tracking 101 for the closest comparator south of the border
• Mexico's 40-hour week and the new time record for the third USMCA jurisdiction, where the ordinary week is shrinking to 40 hours by 2030