Employment Law/Enforcement of Labour Standards
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What can I do if I feel my employer is not treating me in accordance with the employment standards law?
Alberta Employment and Immigration administers the law. There are various Employment Standards offices around the province where you can make a written complaint. Employment Standards Officers will receive and investigate complaints and recommend a procedure to deal with the complaint. You can also make your complaint online using the Employment Standards Online Complaint Form.
You can find information about filing a complaint on the Alberta Employment and Immigration website.
See Alberta Employment and Immigration for more information.
If you do not live near an Employment Standards Office, you can call 310-0000 toll-free and then dial (780) 427-3731 for information.
Information about federal employment standards can be obtained by calling the Federal Labour Program of Human Resources Development Canada at 1-866-713-4397.
What kinds of complaints will an Employment Standards Officer consider?
An Employment Standards Officer can consider the following complaints:
- that an employee is entitled to earnings that have not been paid;
- that an employee has been suspended or laid off
- while on maternity leave or adoption leave,
- because garnishment proceedings are being taken against the employee,
- because the employee gave or is going to give evidence in a case arising from the Employment Standards Code,
- because the employee has asked for something he or she is entitled to under the Employment Standards Code, or
- because the employee is about to make a statement required under the Employment Standards Code.
What can an Employment Standards Officer do?
An Employment Standards Officer has fairly wide powers under the Act to investigate the complaint. The powers include
- entering the place of employment,
- searching relevant records, and
- requesting written and oral statements from employees and the employer.
The officer can refuse to accept a complaint that is frivolous or vexatious, where there is not enough evidence to uphold the complaint, or where there is another means available to the employee to resolve the matter which should be pursued first. The complaint can also be refused when the employee is proceeding with another action about the complaint, for example, by court proceedings.
What happens after an investigation by an Employment Standards Officer?
The officer might offer to mediate the issue between an employee and employer. If that is not an option or is not successful, the officer will decide whether the employee has a valid complaint. If the officer decides that the complaint is not valid, he or she must serve the employee with notice of the decision. The employee can appeal the decision to the Director of Employment Standards within 21 days.
If an officer decides that wages are due to the employee and is not able to settle the matter between the employer and employee, he can order the employer to pay the employee. This decision can be appealed by employer or employee to another officer called an Umpire.
If the officer decides that the employee was suspended, the job was terminated, or the employee was laid off for a reason set out below, the officer will refer the complaint to the Director of Employment Standards. The possible reasons for being inappropriately laid off are
- while on maternity leave or adoption leave;
- because garnishment proceedings are being taken against the employee;
- because the employee gave or is going to give evidence in a case arising from the Employment Standards Code;
- because the employee has asked for something he or she is entitled to under the Employment Standards Code; or
- because the employee is about to make a statement required under the Employment Standards Code.
What powers does the Director of Employment Standards have?
The Director can make a final decision on the question that an employee is not entitled to earnings or that an Employment Standards Officer was justified in refusing to investigate the complaint. There is no appeal of this decision.
On a decision concerning suspension, termination, or layoff, the Director can order reinstatement or compensation or both if he or she finds that the employee was suspended, terminated, or laid off for one of the following reasons:
- while on maternity leave or adoption leave;
- because garnishment proceedings are being taken against the employee;
- because the employee gave or is going to give evidence in a case arising from the Employment Standards Code;
- because the employee has asked for something he or she is entitled to under the Employment Standards Code; or
- because the employee is about to make a statement required under the Employment Standards Code.
An employer or employee can appeal this decision to an Umpire. If the Director finds that there was no suspension, termination, or layoff for any of the reasons set out, there is no appeal.
An employer or employee can also appeal a decision of the Director that earnings be paid to an Umpire.
What happens when a matter is appealed to an Umpire?
In order for the matter to reach an Umpire, a notice of appeal must be served on the Registrar of Appeals within 21 days of the date of service of the decision of the Director.
The procedure before an Umpire is more like a hearing with each party being given the opportunity to present a case. The hearing is not as formal as a court hearing and the Umpire is not bound by the rules of evidence, but must follow the rules of natural justice in giving each party a fair hearing. The procedure may even be carried out by video conferencing.
An Umpire will make an award, which has to be in writing and made available to each party. There is no appeal from an Umpire's award, although it would be possible to seek judicial review of the decision in the courts if the requirements for judicial review were present. The law in the area of judicial review is complex for which the opinion of a lawyer should be sought.
More Information
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See Also
This page was last updated in June, 2006.
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