Workers' Rights
Minimum wage, overtime, workplace safety, wrongful dismissal, discrimination, parental leave, and unionization rights under Canadian federal law.
Covered in this guide:
Your job rights depend on who regulates your employer. The federal Canada Labour Code covers banks, airlines, telecoms, and interprovincial trucking — about 6% of workers. Everyone else falls under provincial employment standards. The Canadian Human Rights Act bans discrimination on 13 grounds, and the Employment Insurance Act covers EI, maternity, parental, and sickness benefits. Quebec runs its own system through CNESST, so check provincial rules if you work there.
Key Laws
Canada Labour Code
R.S.C. 1985, c. L-2
Wages, hours, safety, and labour relations for federal workers
Canadian Human Rights Act
R.S.C. 1985, c. H-6
Prohibits employment discrimination on 13 grounds
Employment Equity Act
S.C. 1995, c. 44
Workplace equity for designated groups
Employment Insurance Act
S.C. 1996, c. 23
EI benefits, maternity, parental, sickness leave
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Part I, Constitution Act, 1982, s. 2(d)
Freedom of association, including right to organize
Minimum Wage
The federal minimum wage only applies if your employer is in a federally regulated industry — banks, airlines, railways, telecom, interprovincial trucking, and a handful of others. The rate moves ever...
Overtime Pay
Once you cross 40 hours in a week on a federally regulated job, every extra hour pays at 1.5 times your regular rate. That's the rule and it can't be wished away by a vague clause in your contract.If...
Workplace Safety
Canadian occupational health and safety law rests on three fundamental rights — the same trio you'll see written on the posters in any federally regulated breakroom:The right to know what hazards exis...
Wrongful Dismissal
Federally regulated employees with 12 months or more of service get one of the strongest job-protection regimes in the common-law world. The Supreme Court's 2016 ruling in Wilson v. Atomic Energy of C...
Workplace Discrimination
The Canadian Human Rights Act draws a hard line: a federally regulated employer cannot discriminate on any of these 13 protected grounds:Race, national or ethnic origin, colourReligion, age, sexSexual...
Parental Leave
Two systems run in parallel: the Code protects your job, and EI replaces part of your income. They aren't the same thing and the rules don't overlap perfectly.Job protection under the Canada Labour Co...
Unionization Rights
The right to organise sits high in Canadian law — section 2(d) of the Charter, reinforced by the Supreme Court in Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada (2015). On the federal side, Part I of...