Making Your Overtime Policy Work for You

Author: justin-monahan posted in: Employment

If you are a business owner or manager in Alberta, it is important to understand the overtime obligations set out in law. It is even more important to understand, however, how you can reduce your overtime obligations by creating an overtime policy that works for you and your business.

Which Employees Are Eligible for Overtime Pay

Before explaining how overtime standards work in Alberta, it is important to know which employees are eligible for overtime pay and which are not. The general rule is that all employees are eligible for overtime pay, even if they are paid by salary. However, there are several exceptions, including:

• Supervisory or Managerial Employees;
• Some salespeople;
• Real estate brokers; and
• Land agents.

Other classes of employees may be exempt from overtime pay. If you are not sure if your employees qualify for overtime pay or not, KMSC’s Employment Law team can advise.

What is Overtime?

The Alberta Employment Standards Code defines overtime as those hours worked by an employee that exceed either: (a) eight hours per day or (b) 44 hours per week, whichever is greater. For each of those hours that qualify as “overtime” according to this definition, employers must pay their employees 1.5 times (or 150 percent of) the employee’s wage.

The Benefits of an Overtime Policy from KMSC Law

There are three main benefits to retaining a lawyer from KMSC Law to draft your overtime policy. First, having an overtime policy drafted by legal counsel ensures that you are complying with employment standards laws. An overtime policy drafted by a lawyer can help avoid surprise claims for unpaid overtime down the road.

Second, overtime policies provide clarity to both employers and employees. They ensure everyone involved understands how much overtime the employee has worked and how much compensation they deserve for their overtime and can help to avoid complaints and misunderstandings between employees and employers.

Third, our legal counsel can draft an overtime policy that is tailored to minimize your business’ overtime liabilities. The law allows businesses to introduce overtime policies that grants employees a day off for each day of overtime worked instead of a policy that pays employees 150% of their daily wage for each day of overtime worked. The law also allows businesses to use an overtime policy that calculates an employee’s overtime hours by averaging worked hours over several months instead of the relevant pay period. The proper overtime policy for your business can be a great benefit to your bottom line.

Alberta Employment Lawyers

If you are a business owner who would like an overtime policy for their business, contact the Employment Law Team at KMSC Law today. Our experienced team of litigators and solicitors can help craft an Overtime Policy that is suited to the needs and realities of your business and protect you from future liability down the road.