Minimum Wage Ontario

Hourly Employees (including domestics) $9.50/hour

Hourly Employees (liquor servers only) $8.25/hour

Home workers $10.45/hour

Students (under 18 years) $8.90/hour

Minimum Wage by Province

Updated: Jan/07/2010

Alberta $8.80

BC $8.00

Manitoba $9.00

New Brunswick $8.25

Newfoundland $9.50

NWT $8.25

Nova Scotia $8.60

Nunavut $10.00

Ontario $9.50

PEI $8.40

Quebec $9.00

Saskatchewan $9.25

Yukon $8.89

An employee must be paid for a minimum of 3 hours work unless they are hired to work less than three hours per day or are students.

Overtime Pay

Any hours worked over 44 hours/week must be paid at one and one-half times the regular hourly rate.
Overtime pay does not apply to an employee in a supervisory or managerial role but does apply to non-managerial full-time, part-time and student employees.

Hours of Work

Maximum 8 hours/day or 48 hours/week.
This does not apply to Supervisors or Managers.

Public Holidays

Employees are entitled to eight public holidays with pay; New Year's Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

An employee does NOT qualify for a paid holiday if they; have worked for less than three months, did not earn wages on twelve days of the four work weeks preceding the holiday, did not work the regular scheduled shift preceding or following the holiday, have the option of electing to work or not to work (this applies to temporary and contract employees).
Where a public holiday falls on a working day, an employer may (with the agreement of the employee or employee's agent) substitute another working day for the public holiday.
An employee who works on a public holiday (without a substitute arrangement) is entitled to wages of at least time and one-half the regular rate for those hours worked, in addition to the employee's regular days pay for that public holiday.
An employee who does not qualify for a paid holiday must be paid at least time and one-half the regular rate for hours worked on the following statutory holidays; New Year's Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Ontario Holidays

New Year's Day,
Family Day (third Monday in February)
Good Friday,
Victoria Day,
Canada Day,
Civic Holiday (first Monday in August)
Labour Day,
Thanksgiving Day,
Christmas Day,
Boxing Day.


Smoking in the Workplace

Effective January 1, 1990 smoking is prohibited from all enclosed workspaces in Ontario. This includes lunchrooms and any "back counter" workspaces. Most
municipalities now have legislation prohibiting smoking in reception/waiting rooms. In a situation where a municipal or federal Act exists, the more restrictive of the provincial/federal/municipal Act will prevail.

Employers may designate a smoking area in the workplace provided that:

The area(s) does not exceed 25% of the floor area of the workspace and is vented directly to the outside.
The joint health and safety committee or the workers' health and safety representative is consulted prior to implementation.
If an employee asks to work away from a designated smoking area, the employer is obliged to make every reasonable effort to accommodate the request. An employer cannot take reprisal action against an employee who lodges a complaint. It is the responsibility of the employer to make every reasonable effort to ensure that smoking regulations are enforced. Failure to do so can result in fines for the employer to a maximum of $25,000 as well as fines to the employee to a maximum of $500.

Notice of Termination

After three months of employment, but less than one year, entitlement is at least one week written notice.
After one year of employment (but less than three), entitlement is at least two weeks written notice.
Employees who have worked three years or more are entitled to written notice of at least one week for each year of employment, with a maximum required notice period of eight weeks.
If an employee is terminated without notice, the employer must provide pay in lieu of notice and maintain any benefits programs for the prescribed notice period (this payment must be made within 7 days of termination).

Vacation Pay

Employees are entitled to two weeks' vacation with pay after 12 months of employment.
An employee who terminates employment prior to completing 12 months of service must receive 4% of total wages calculated from the first day of employment.
(not including expenses and travel allowances, benefit plans payments or previously paid vacation pay)
Contract/freelance employees (those who bill/invoice for their time) are not entitled to vacation pay.
NOTE: Employers are also not obligated to pay payroll taxes on contract/freelance employees such as CPP, UIC, etc. It should be noted that these employees might not be covered by bonds the employer may have for regular full-time employees.

(Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour, 1997)