The following is a guideline for minimum labour standards taken from A Guide to Workers’ Rights published by the BC Federation of Labour. A unionised workplace and collective agreement go a long way to ensuring workers have not only a fair say in how their workplace operates, but also protections and benefits. In the absence of those protections, workers still have minimum protections backed up by the Employment Standards Act (ESA).

The following section includes information to help you understand the rights you have. For further information, go to the Employment Standards Branch website www.labour.gov.bc.ca/esb.

Remember, your rights only have meaning when you understand and exercise them!

TOP TEN STANDARDS FOR WORKERS

1. MINIMUM WAGE
No matter how you are paid, whether hourly, salary, flat rate, or commission, your employer must meet the minimum wage requirement of $8.00 per hour. Tips or gratuities are not considered wages. A restaurant server, for example, must be paid at least the minimum wage.

In November 2001, the minimum wage was amended to include a $6.00 “training wage.” This discriminatory wage can be paid to employees who cannot demonstrate that they have previously worked for 500 paid hours.
For information on the training wage, check www.6buckssucks.com.

2. MINIMUM DAILY PAY
Every employee who starts a shift must be paid a guaranteed daily minimum of at least two hours of pay. If work is interrupted for a reason that is beyond the employer’s control, then the employees must receive at least two hours of pay.

3. STATUTORY HOLIDAYS
In BC there are nine recognized statutory holidays. Full and part-time workers who work 15 of 30 calendar days prior to the holiday qualify for statutory holiday pay. A worker who is required to work on a statutory holiday is entitled to overtime pay of time-and-a-half for the first eleven hours.

The nine statutory holidays are New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, BC Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day and Christmas Day.

4. LEAVE FROM WORK
An employer must give an employee the leave to which the employee is entitled. That means that you cannot be fired or have the conditions of your employment changed because of the leave.
Employers in BC must provide five types of unpaid leave conditions for their employees.
PREGNANCY LEAVE: up to 17 consecutive weeks taken before birth of child or termination of pregnancy or, six weeks commencing after birth of child or termination of pregnancy.
PARENTAL LEAVE: Up to 35 weeks if pregnancy leave is taken, 37 weeks if pregnancy leave is not taken, including adoptions and birth fathers.
FAMILY RESPONSIBILITY LEAVE: Up to five days for the care, health or education of a child or any other member of the employee’s immediate family.
BEREAVEMENT LEAVE: Up to three days to grieve, attend a funeral, and take care of issues relating to the death of a family member.
JURY DUTY: full leave to attend court as a juror.

5. OVERTIME
The standard for overtime wage rate is time-and-one-half for hours worked in excess of eight hours per day or 40 hours per week, double time for hours in excess of 11 hours per day or 48 hours per week. Employers can require employees to sign “flexibility agreements” which waive the right to daily overtime pay and allow the employer to calculate overtime on average hours worked over a four-week period. An employer may allow overtime to be taken as time off at a later date.

6. ANNUAL VACATIONS
The Act details minimum vacation entitlements for workers. After one year of consecutive employment, a worker is entitled to two weeks of paid vacation. After five years, she’s entitled to three weeks. Vacation pay must be the equivalent of at least four percent of a worker’s total earnings from the previous year. After five years of consecutive employment, vacation pay increases to six percent.

7. TERMINATION NOTICE
Employers are required to give workers written notice of termination if the worker has been employed at least three months. In lieu of written notice, an employer must provide compensation of one week of pay after three months of service, two weeks of pay after 12 months of service, three weeks of pay after three years of service, plus one week for each additional year to a maximum of eight.

8. DEDUCTIONS
Employers are only allowed to make deductions from a worker’s pay cheque if required by law (e.g. Employment Insurance). Workers’ Compensation premiums cannot be deducted. An employer cannot force an employee to pay for breakage, uniforms, product spillage, or damage to company property.

9. MEAL BREAKS
An employer cannot require an employee to work more than five hours without a thirty-minute meal break. If an employee is required to be available for work during the meal break, then the meal break is considered time worked for the purposes of pay.

10. PAYDAYS AND PAYROLL RECORDS
Workers must be paid at least twice a month. An employer cannot withhold pay longer than eight days after the end of a pay period. Employers must provide a written record with each pay cheque, itemizing the hours worked and the rates of pay. Employers must also keep those employment records for at least two (previously eight) years.

Your right to be treated equally and to live free from discrimination is protected by the BC Human Rights Act and the Canadian Human Rights Code. Following are some common human rights issues.

EQUALITY ON THE JOB
A person cannot be refused work, promoted, fired, or forced to work under different conditions because of age (19-65), ancestry, colour, convictions unrelated to employment, family status, marital status. physical or mental disability except where a genuine occupational requirement applies (e.g., vision requirements for transit operators), place of origin, political belief, race, religion, sex (including sexual harassment or pregnancy), or sexual orientation.

JOB APPLICATIONS AND INTERVIEWS
Employers have the right to ask questions about your age, health, marital status, but cannot refuse to hire or promote you based on how questions are answered.

WAGES
The BC Human Rights Act prohibits wage discrimination based on sex. Men and women should receive the same rate of pay for similar work. The Canadian Human Rights Code offers greater protection, since it requires “pay equity”—men and women must be paid the same wage for work of similar value, even if they perform different jobs.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Many human rights complaints are about acts of sexual harassment at work. These acts can include: unwelcome remarks, jokes, innuendoes or taunts about a person(s) body, clothing or sex; insulting gestures, leering (suggestive staring), and practical jokes of a nature that causes awkwardness or embarrassment; displaying pornographic pictures, graffiti or other offensive materials; and unnecessary physical contact, such as touching, patting, or pinching.

Demanding sexual favours accompanied by implied or overt threats concerning such things as job performance evaluation, letters of recommendation or promotion.

If you believe your employer has violated these minimum standards, phone the Employment Standards Branch’s province-wide contact number, 1-800-663-3316 for more information. You can also visit the website by accessing the link below.

The Canadian Human Rights Act covers all federally regulated businesses and agencies (e.g., the Federal Government, banks, railways, airlines). These complaints are filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. However, approximately 85 percent of employers in BC fall under the BC Human Rights Act.

For more information, contact the BC Human Rights Tribunal toll free at 1-888-440-8844 or TTY at (604) 775-2021.