Canada Labour Code Part III: Hours, Leaves, and Termination

Part III of the Canada Labour Code sets the minimum employment standards for people who work in federally regulated industries. It covers hours of work, overtime, minimum wage, vacation, general holidays, leaves, termination, severance, and the right to file a complaint without retaliation. These rules are a floor: an employment contract can offer more, but never less. The federal minimum wage rose to $18.15 per hour on April 1, 2026, and the Code now guarantees up to 10 paid sick days a year alongside long-standing protections for overtime, vacation, and job security.

Who Part III Applies To

Part III applies to private-sector employers in industries that cross provincial or international borders or serve a national function. The main sectors are:

Air transportation: airlines, airports, and aircraft operations
Banking: all chartered banks and authorized foreign banks
Interprovincial rail, trucking, bus, and shipping
Telecommunications and broadcasting: telephone, internet, cable, radio, and television
Grain handling: elevators, feed mills, seed-cleaning plants, and feed warehouses
Port and marine services, ferries, canals, tunnels, and interprovincial pipelines
First Nations band councils performing certain governance-related activities

Federal public servants are governed by separate legislation and are not covered by Part III.¹

Who Is Excluded from the Hours-of-Work Rules

Two groups do not get the hours-of-work protections in Division I, which means no statutory overtime and no weekly cap under the Code.

The first group is genuine managers and superintendents. The Code does not define “manager,” so investigators look at what the person actually does, not the title. The test is whether the person can independently make binding decisions on hiring, firing, discipline, budgets, and policy. Someone who only recommends decisions that a superior can override usually does not qualify.²

The second group is members of five regulated professions: architecture, dentistry, engineering, law, and medicine. The exclusion applies only if the person holds professional accreditation and actually works in that professional role. A licensed lawyer working as an HR coordinator would not be exempt. Nurses and paralegals do not qualify.²

Hours of Work, Overtime, and Breaks

The standard workday is 8 hours and the standard workweek is 40 hours. Time beyond those limits is overtime, paid at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. Weekly hours generally cannot exceed 48 unless the employer holds a permit for excess hours or an emergency requires it.³

Every employee is entitled to one full day of rest each week, usually Sunday. In any stretch of five consecutive hours worked, the employer must provide at least a 30-minute unpaid break.³

Employers who break the hours rules face administrative monetary penalties from $250 for a minor infraction by a micro-business up to $50,000 for the most serious violations by large employers.⁴

Federal Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage is $18.15 per hour, effective April 1, 2026. It adjusts every April 1 based on the previous year’s Consumer Price Index, rounded up to the nearest five cents. The 2026 increase reflected a 2.1% rise in the CPI during 2025.⁵

Where the provincial or territorial minimum wage is higher, the employer must pay the higher rate. Provincial rates currently range from about $15.00 to $19.75 per hour, so workers in some provinces already earn above the federal floor while workers in others rely on it.⁵

Vacation and General Holidays

Vacation time and pay grow with length of service:

After 1 year: at least 2 weeks of vacation and 4% of gross earnings as vacation pay
After 5 consecutive years: at least 3 weeks and 6% of earnings
After 10 consecutive years: at least 4 weeks and 8% of earnings

Employers must let you take earned vacation no later than 10 months after the end of the year it was earned.⁶

You also get a paid day off on 10 general holidays: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Part-time workers receive holiday pay adjusted to the hours they work, and employees paid partly or entirely by commission calculate holiday pay using a formula based on recent earnings.⁶

Leaves of Absence

Maternity and Parental Leave

A pregnant employee can take up to 17 weeks of maternity leave. Either a biological or adoptive parent can take up to 63 weeks of parental leave on top of that. Both are job-protected but unpaid under the Code itself. Income replacement comes through Employment Insurance, which is a separate federal program.⁷

Medical Leave

You can take up to 27 weeks of unpaid medical leave for personal illness, injury, organ donation, quarantine, or medical appointments. The employer cannot dismiss, suspend, demote, or discipline you for taking or planning to take this leave.⁸

Paid Sick Days

On top of the 27-week unpaid leave, the Code provides up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year. After 30 consecutive days of employment, you earn 3 paid sick days. After that, you earn 1 additional day at the start of each month of continuous employment, up to the annual maximum of 10. Unused days carry forward, but they reduce what you can accrue in the new year. Each paid sick day pays your regular hourly rate for normal hours.⁸

Bereavement Leave

When an immediate family member dies, you can take up to 10 days of bereavement leave. The window runs from the date of death through six weeks after the last funeral, burial, or memorial service. If you have at least three consecutive months of continuous employment, the first three days are paid at your regular rate.⁹

Personal Leave

Every employee gets up to 5 days of personal leave per calendar year for family responsibilities such as caring for a sick relative or attending to the education of a child under 18. If you have completed three consecutive months of continuous employment, the first 3 days are paid.¹⁰

Termination, Notice, and Severance

Individual Notice

If your employer terminates you after at least three months of continuous employment, they must give written notice, pay in lieu, or a combination. The notice period grows with service:

3 months to under 3 years: 2 weeks
3 years: 3 weeks
4 years: 4 weeks
5 years: 5 weeks
6 years: 6 weeks
7 years: 7 weeks
8 or more years: 8 weeks

Pay in lieu is calculated at your regular rate for your normal hours of work.¹¹

Severance Pay

Severance is separate from notice. Any employee with at least 12 consecutive months of continuous employment is entitled to severance on termination. The amount is the greater of two days’ wages for each completed year of service or five days’ wages, both at the regular rate.¹²

Group Terminations

When 50 or more employees at a single location will be terminated within a four-week period, the employer must give at least 16 weeks’ written notice to the Head of Compliance and Enforcement at the Labour Program. The employer must also immediately form a joint planning committee of at least four members, with at least half representing affected workers. The committee has to reduce terminations where possible and help displaced workers find new work. It must meet for the first time within two weeks of the notice being filed and develop an adjustment program as quickly as it can.¹² If the committee reaches an impasse, either side can ask the Minister of Labour to appoint an arbitrator six weeks after the initial notice was filed.¹³

Unjust Dismissal

If you have completed 12 consecutive months of continuous employment and are not covered by a collective agreement, you can challenge a dismissal as unjust. Managers are excluded from this protection. A successful complaint can lead to reinstatement, back pay, and compensation for lost benefits. The Labour Program treats dismissal as the most serious step in the disciplinary process, and the employer must show a legitimate reason for the decision.¹⁴

Deadlines for Filing a Complaint

Miss a filing deadline and the claim can be permanently barred. The key limits are:

Unpaid wages, overtime, vacation pay, severance, or pay in lieu of notice: 6 months from the last day the employer was required to pay
Non-monetary issues, such as denied breaks or an unanswered flexible work arrangement request: 6 months from the day you became aware of the problem
Unjust dismissal: 90 days from the date of dismissal

The 90-day unjust dismissal deadline can be extended if you filed with the wrong government official in good faith during that window.¹⁴¹⁵

How to File a Complaint

Before contacting the Labour Program, gather the employer’s full legal name and address, your dates of employment, records of hours worked (especially any disputed overtime), pay stubs and tax slips, and any written communications about the dispute such as emails or a termination letter. Put the documents in date order. Knowing which part of the Code applies to your situation (wages, leave, termination) will speed up the form.

Complaints can be filed through the Government of Canada’s online portal or by mailing the Labour Program’s complaint form to the regional office covering where you worked. The online system walks you through uploading evidence and issues a confirmation with a reference number. Expect an acknowledgement letter within a few business days. An investigator will then contact you, ask for anything else needed, and decide whether there was a violation and what corrective action the employer must take.

Anti-Reprisal Protections

The Code makes it illegal for an employer to fire, threaten, or discriminate against someone for testifying in a Part III proceeding or providing information about wages, hours, vacations, or working conditions to the Minister or the Head of Compliance and Enforcement.

The penalties are steep. A corporate employer faces fines of up to $50,000 for a first offence, $100,000 for a second, and $250,000 for each subsequent offence. An individual who retaliates faces up to $10,000 for a first offence, rising to $50,000 for repeat violations. A second or subsequent offence only counts if the earlier conviction was within the previous five years.¹⁶

1
Government of Canada. List of Federally Regulated Industries and Workplaces
2
Government of Canada. Excluded Employees from Hours of Work Provisions – IPG-049
3
Government of Canada. Hours of Work – Federally Regulated Workplaces
4
Canada Gazette. Administrative Monetary Penalties (Canada Labour Code) Regulations
5
Government of Canada. Government of Canada Raises the Federal Minimum Wage
6
Government of Canada. Annual Vacations and General Holidays for Employees Working for Federally Regulated Employers
7
Government of Canada. Types of Leaves You Can Receive as an Employee Working in Federally Regulated Industries and Workplaces
8
Department of Justice Canada. Canada Labour Code – Section 239
9
Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code – Section 210
10
Canada.ca. Personal Leave – IPG-117
11
Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code – Section 230
12
Government of Canada. Termination, Layoff or Dismissal
13
Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code – Section 212
14
Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code – Section 240
15
Government of Canada. Federally Regulated Employees – Filing a Labour Standards Complaint with the Labour Program: Eligibility and Timelines
16
Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code – Section 256