Laws about hours of work say when and for how long employees can work and when they get breaks and rest days. Overtime laws also say when an employee gets premium pay for working extra hours. Employers must meet minimum standards but can choose to provide better working conditions for their employees.
The law sets out general rules as well as exceptions for different roles and industries. It’s important to understand what rules apply to your specific situation.
Need to know | What the law says | Maximum hours in a day | Minimum hours of work | Notice of work times | Breaks in a work day | Rest days | Overtime | Take action
Need to know
- There are minimum standards about the maximum hours you can work in a day and when you get breaks and rest days.
- Certain workers can earn extra money called overtime pay when they work more hours than normal.
- A collective agreement can set out rules that are different than minimum standards under the law.
- There are exceptions to the minimum standards depending on your role or what industry you work in.
- Minimum standards are different under Alberta’s Employment Standards Code and the Canada Labour Code (Part III).
What the law says
Two laws set out rules for Alberta employees about hours of work:
- Alberta’s Employment Standards Code
- the Canada Labour Code Part III (Standard Hours, Wages, Vacations and Holidays)
Employees in the following industries must follow federal employment laws, including the Canada Labour Code:
- Government of Canada or Crown corporations
- Banks (not including a credit union or treasury branch)
- Airports or airlines
- Ships and navigation (including loading and unloading vessels)
- TV or radio stations
- Phone or internet providers
- Transportation between provinces (ferries, trains, trucks, or buses)
- RCMP
- First Nations administrations
All other employees in Alberta must follow Alberta’s Employment Standards Code, also known as the Code.
If you are part of a union, your collective agreement may set out different rules than the rules described below.
The law also does not define full-time or part-time work. It depends on how your employer defines it. Look at your employment contract, human resources policies or collective agreement.
The information on this page describes Alberta’s laws as they apply to most Alberta employees. Learn more about federal hours of work laws on the Government of Canada’s website.
Maximum hours in a day
You can only work for a maximum of 12 hours in one work day.
Exceptions to the rule
Your employer can require you to work more than 12 hours in a day if one of the following happens:
- an accident occurs
- urgent work is necessary to a plant or machinery
- something unforeseeable or unpreventable happens
Truckers cannot resume work until they’ve had a rest of 8 hours or as required by the Drivers’ Hours of Service Regulation, whichever is longer.
Minimum hours of work
If you work for less than three hours, your employer must pay you for at least three hours of work at minimum wage, unless a special rule applies to your work. A meal break of one hour or less is not part of the three consecutive hours of work.
This means that if your employer calls you in for a shift and then sends you home after two hours, they must pay you for three hours of work.
Exceptions to the rule
If you work in the following jobs, your employer only has to pay you for two hours if you’ve worked two hours or less:
- part-time employees in recreational or athletic programs run by a city, town, Métis settlement or a not-for-profit community service organization
- school bus drivers
- students aged 13, 14 or 15 who work when they should be in school
- a caregiver who provides care for less than two consecutive hours of work
Notice of work times
Your employer must notify you when you’re supposed to start and stop work. They can do this by posting a schedule somewhere all employees can access or notifying you personally.
If your employer wants to change your shift, they must notify you in writing at least 24 hours beforehand. They must also give you 8 hours of rest between shifts.
Breaks in a work day
Your employer must let you take at least a 30-minute break after every five hours of work. This 30-minute break can also be two breaks of at least 15 minutes each. Your employer can choose if this is a paid or unpaid break.
You and your employer must agree when you take a break. If you cannot agree, then your employer must give you a break within or right after each five-hour period of work.
Exceptions to the rule
Your employer does not have to give you a break if:
- an accident occurs
- urgent work is necessary
- something unforeseeable or unpreventable happens
- it is not reasonable for you to take a rest
Rest days
Rest days are days off between work days. Your employer must meet one of the following rules about rest days:
- 1 day of rest in each work week
- 2 consecutive days of rest in every two weeks of work
- 3 consecutive days of rest in every three weeks of work
- 4 consecutive days of rest in each four weeks of work
If you work 24 consecutive work days, your employer must give you at least 4 consecutive rest days.
The Code does not say which days have to be rest days. An employer does not have to give you rest days on the weekend. If weekend work is a job requirement, consider this when deciding whether to take the job.
Exceptions to the rule
There are exceptions to these rules for the following employees:
- lookout observers (rules do not apply)
- domestic employees in a private home (rules do not apply)
- farm and ranch workers (must get at least 4 days of rest in each period of 28 work days)
- those in roadbuilding or heavy construction operations (if an employee works 4 of less hours in a day, then the remainder of the work day is a half rest day)
Overtime
Overtime is premium pay for working extra hours. You may be entitled to overtime if you work more than 8 hours in a day or 44 hours in a week, whichever is greater. Overtime pay is 1.5 times your regular pay for each hour of overtime you work.
For example, if you worked ten hours every day for five days, you would have 10 hours of overtime using the first method (2 extra hours each day) and 6 hours using the second method (50 hours worked minus 44 hours in a work week). Your overtime is the greater amount and so would be 10 hours.
A work week is either:
- the time between midnight one Saturday and midnight the next Saturday or
- seven consecutive days that your employer establishes as the work week.
For example, if your company works on a Friday to Thursday schedule, that would be the work week.
Exceptions to the rule
There are many exceptions to the overtime rules.
Employees not entitled to overtime
The following employees do not get overtime pay:
- managers, supervisors and those employed in a confidential capacity
- many professionals, including lawyers, accountants, architects, chiropractors, dentists, engineers, optometrists, podiatrists, psychologists, veterinarians, agrologists and information systems professionals
- salespersons of vehicles, farm machinery, road construction equipment, heavy duty equipment, mobile homes or residential homes
- salespeople who ask for orders mainly outside of where they work and get paid a commission (not including route salespeople)
- licensed salespersons of real estate, insurance and securities
- salespersons for licensed direct sellers
- licensed land agents
- waged, non-family farm and ranch employees
- lookout observers
- extras in a video or film production
- teachers or counselors at a camp for kids or people with disabilities, or a religious camp
Employees with different overtime rules
Ambulance attendants
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 10 hours per day in the work week or hours of work over 60 hours in the work week.
Employees doing field catering, geophysical exploration (but not engineers), land surveying, logging and lumbering – all further than 16km outside a town or city
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 10 hours per day in the work month or hours of work over 191 hours in the work month. (If you stop working during a month, overtime is calculated differently.)
Employees of a municipal district or Métis settlement doing road construction, road maintenance or snow removal from roads
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 10 hours per day in the work month or hours of work over 191 hours in the work month. (If you stop working during a month, overtime is calculated differently.)
Employees going brush clearing, and railway or road construction (including maintenance) outside of a city, town or village
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 10 hours per day in the work week or hours of work over 44 hours in the work week.
Employees of an irrigation district (except for office employees) who are employed full time and paid wages on a monthly basis
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 9 hours per day in the work week or hours of work over 54 hours in the work week.
Oilwell servicing industry
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 12 hours per day in the work month or hours of work over 191 hours in the work month. (If you stop working during a month, overtime is calculated differently.)
Taxi drivers
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 10 hours per day in the work week or hours of work over 60 hours in the work week.
Truck drivers and bus drivers (except those who work only within a city)
Overtime hours are the greater of hours over 10 hours per day in the work week or hours of work over 50 hours in the work week.
Caregivers (providing home care or residential care)
If a caregiver works a 24-hour shift, any hours over 264 in a month count as overtime. If a caregiver works less than a 24-hour shift, they get paid overtime for any hours worked over 12 in a day or over 264 in a month. Sleeping hours don’t count as overtime unless the caregiver is working during that time.
Firefighters
Overtime hours are the greater of a firefighter’s regularly scheduled work shifts in that work week or an average of 44 hours per week (averaged over the period of the current cycle).
Employees who receive commissions
If you only earn money through commission, you must be paid overtime at minimum wage. If you earn some money through a salary and some through commission, your overtime pay is based on your salary rate if it is higher than minimum wage. If your salary rate is the same as or lower than minimum wage, your overtime pay is at minimum wage.
Hours of work averaging arrangements
An averaging arrangement looks at the hours you work over 1 to 52 weeks to figure out how much extra pay or time off you should get for working more than usual.
An averaging arrangement can be part of a collective agreement. If there is no collective agreement, your employer can require or allow you to work an averaging arrangement.
An averaging arrangement must be in writing and say:
- the number of weeks over which the hours are averaged, to a maximum of 52 weeks (unless Alberta Employment Standards authorizes a longer period)
- a schedule setting out the daily and weekly hours of work for the averaging period (unless a collective agreement says otherwise)
- how overtime pay or time in lieu is calculated
An employer must give you at least 2 weeks’ notice in writing that you are required to work an averaging arrangement. An employer does not need your consent first. You and your employer can agree to shorten the notice period. If you are a new employee and there is already an averaging arrangement, your employer must tell you about it in writing before your first day.
Usually, an employer must give you 24 hours’ written notice of a change in the work hours schedule. An averaging arrangement may say your employer can change the schedule of daily and weekly hours of work and how it can do this.
Your employer must give a copy of the averaging arrangement to each employee to whom it applies.
Overtime agreements
An overtime agreement says that an employee can take time off with regular pay instead of overtime pay. You can bank overtime hours and then take time off with regular pay at a later date. The agreement can be about some or all overtime pay.
An overtime agreement can be:
- part of a collective agreement if you are in a union, or
- a written agreement between you and your employer or a group of employees and your employer. If the overtime agreement is between a group of employees, it can apply to individuals whether or not they were employed when the agreement was made.
By law, overtime agreements include the following terms, even if the agreement does not specifically include them:
- If your employer does not provide time off with pay for overtime hours, they must pay you overtime pay at 1.5 times your regular wage.
- The employer must give you paid time off within 6 months after you worked overtime (unless your union agreement says differently). For example, if you earned overtime in January and get paid monthly, you must use that time off before July ends.
- If the employer or group of employees wants to change or cancel the agreement, they must give one month’s written notice to the other party.
The employer must give a copy of the overtime agreement to each employee to whom it applies.
Take action
- Talk to your employer if you have concerns they are not following minimum standards
- For provincially regulated workplaces, file a complaint with Alberta’s Employment Standards Office
- For federally regulated workplaces, file a complaint with the Canada Labour Program
- Get help with issues at work from the Workers’ Resource Centre
Reviewed: May 2024