Labour Code - Canada 

Canada Labour Code of 1985

Part III of the Labour Code is relevant for our purpose. Leaving aside the non-application for certain employees or managers (ss. 167 (2) and (3) and 168), Part III applies:

1. to employment in or in connection with the operation of any federal work, undertaking or business, other than a work, undertaking or business of a local or private nature in the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut;
2. to and in respect of employees who are employed in or in connection with any federal work, undertaking or business described in paragraph (a);
3. to and in respect of any employers of the employees described in paragraph (b);
4. to and in respect of any corporation established to perform any function or duty on behalf of the government of Canada other than a department as defined in the Financial Administration Act; and
5. to or in respect of any Canadian carrier, as defined in s. 2 of the Telecommunications Act, that is an agent of Her Majesty in right of a province (s. 167 (1)).

Part III of the Code deals with standard hours, wages, vacations and holidays. Division II of this Part (ss. 178 to 181) regulates the issue of minimum wages. Division III (s. 182) deals with equal wages. It states that, for the purpose of ascertaining whether a discriminatory practice under s. 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act is being or has been engaged in, ss. 249, 250, 252 to 255 and 264 apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, as if the Part expressly required an employer to refrain from that discriminatory practice. Where an inspector has reasonable grounds at any time for believing that an employer is engaging, or has engaged, in a discriminatory practice, the inspector may notify the Canadian Human Rights Commission or file a complaint with that Commission under s. 40 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Division VII deals with reassignment, maternity leave and parental leave. According to s. 204, from the beginning of the pregnancy to the end of the twenty-fourth week following the birth, a woman employee may request the employer to modify her job functions or to reassign her if they may pose a risk for her health or that of her child. She shall also be granted a leave of absence with pay, until her job functions are modified (s. 205 (2).). Furthermore, the onus is on the employer to show that a modification of job functions or a reassignment is not reasonably practicable (s. 205(3).). During the same period, a pregnant or nursing employee is entitled to a leave of absence if she provides a medical certificate indicating that she is unable to work (s. 205(1).).

Moreover, every employee, who has completed six consecutive months of employment and who provides a valid medical certificate, is entitled to leave of absence of up to seventeen weeks beginning not earlier than eleven weeks prior to the estimated date of her confinement and ending not later than seventeen weeks following the actual date of her confinement (s. 206). Every employee who has completed six consecutive months of employment is also entitled to parental leave of up to twenty-four weeks within the year following the birth (s. 206(1).). Subject to some exceptions (s. 208 (2).), no employer may require an employee to take a leave of absence because the employee is pregnant (s. 208 (1).).

Every employee having taken a maternity or parental leave is entitled to be reinstated in the position that the employee occupied when the leave of absence commenced (s. 209.1). Finally, no employer can dismiss, suspend, lay off, demote or discipline an employee because she is pregnant or has applied for leave of absence, and must take into account the pregnancy of an employee or the intention of an employee to take leave of absence in any decision to promote or train the employee (s. 209.3).

Division VIII (s. 210) provides for bereavement leave. Every employee is entitled to one day’s leave during the three days following the day of the death of a member of his/her immediate family. If the employee has completed three consecutive months of employment, he/she is entitled to such leave with pay.

Division XV.1 gives a definition of sexual harassment:

"any conduct, comment, gesture or contact of a sexual nature (a) that is likely to cause offence or humiliation to any employee; or (b) that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by that employee as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment or on any opportunity for training or promotion" (s. 247.1).

Every employee has the right to be free of sexual harassment (s. 247(2).) and employers must make every reasonable effort to ensure that no employee is subjected to sexual harassment (s. 247(3).). The employer is also required to issue a policy statement concerning sexual harassment (s. 247(4).).

Finally, Division XVI of Part III is called "Administration and General". It contains provisions concerning the inquiries that the Minister of Labour may cause to be made (s. 248), the inspectors that the Minister may designate (s. 249) in order to examine compliance with the provisions of Part III, and notably recovery of wages when an inspector finds that an employer has not paid an employee wages to which the employee is entitled (s. 251(1).). Sections 256 to 262 deal with the questions of offences and punishments for violations of the provisions of Part III.