Employment Standards

Entirely a creation of statute; minimum employee rights extended for work within the jurisdiction served by the relevant statute.

Also referred to as labour standards or labor standards.

Recognizing that non-unionized employees are substantially orphaned by the common law, and thus seeking to establish minimal rights to employees not served by a union or a collective bargaining agreement, many common law jurisdictions have established a set of minimal rights to all employees. These codes of minimum standards for working conditions are known as, for example, the Employment Standards Act (French: normes du travail).

The extend of coverage in the regional statutes is generally similar but does differs from jurisdiction on some essential points. For example, some employment standards statutes recognize sick leave, others do not.

Generally, the essential employment standards as set out in the statute relate to hours of work, notice of termination or minimal severance pay requirements, the employment of children, overtime pay, vacation pay and leave, statutory holidays and pregnancy leave.

The various statutes often creates an "employment standards" administrative tribunal with exclusive jurisdiction to deal with employer who have allegedly breached the statute.

Further, many jurisdictions also offer a supportive bureaucracy recognizing the economic disadvantage facing the employee when an employment standard may have been breached by the employer. These bureaucracies, which goes by a variety of names such as the "employment standards commission", receive complaints and investigate, with the cost of investigation absorbed by the government.

REFERENCES:

• Canada Labour Code,(Part III) Revised Statutes of Canada 1985, Chapter L-2
• Duhaime, Lloyd, Employment Standards in British Columbia
• Duhaime, Lloyd, Employment Standards in Ontario
• Duhaime.org, Employment & Labour Law
• Employment Standards Act, Revised Statutes of British Columbia 1996, Chapter 113
• Employment Standards Act, Statutes of Ontario 2000, Chapter 41
• Employment Standards Act, Statutes of New Brunswick 1982, Chapter E-7.2
• Employment Standards Act, Revised Statutes of Prince Edward Island 1988, Chapter E-6.2
• Employment Standards Code, Continuing Consolidated Statutes of Manitoba, Chapter E-110
• Employment Standards Code, Revised Statutes of Alberta 2000, Chapter E-9
• Labour Standards Act (Loi sur les normes du travail), Revised Statutes of Québec, Chapter N-1.1
• Labour Standards Act, Revised Statutes of Newfoundland and Labrador 1990, Chapter  L-2
• Labour Standards Act, Revised Statutes of Saskatchewan 1978, Chapter L-1
• Labour Standards Code, Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia 1989, Chapter 246