Overtime

Alberta’s Employment Standards Code sets out how overtime is calculated and paid out to employees.

For some jobs, overtime for employees is calculated differently. For other jobs, employees do not get overtime. Keep reading for more information.

Last Reviewed: November 2020

Overtime hours are the greater of either:

• the total of any hours worked over 8 hours per day each day in the work week

OR

• the total of any hours worked over 44 hours in the work week.

For example, if you worked ten hours per day for five days, you would have 10 hours of overtime using the first method (2 overtime hours each day) and 6 hours using the second method (50 hours worked less 44 hours in a work week). Your overtime is the greater amount and so would be 10 hours.

If you are part of an averaging agreement, overtime is calculated differently. For some industries, overtime is also calculated differently, or workers do not get overtime. See the questions below for more information.

Last Reviewed: November 2020

Under the Employment Standards Code, a work week is either:

• the time between midnight one Saturday and midnight the next Saturday

OR

• seven consecutive days that are established as the work week by your employer’s practice. For example, if your company works on a Friday to Thursday schedule, that would be considered the work week.

Last Reviewed: September 2019

1. 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.
2. 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, the overtime is calculated differently.)
3. Employees of a town or city 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, the overtime is calculated differently.)
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Employees working in a nursery or greenhouse: overtime hours are the greater of hours over 9 hours per day in the work week OR hours of work over 48 hours in the work week.
7. 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, the overtime is calculated differently.)
8. Taxi cab 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.
9. 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.
10. Caregivers (providing home care or residential care):
    • Where the caregiver is employed for a 24-hour shift: overtime hours are any hours over 264 hours in a work month and ;
    • Where the caregiver is employed for less than a 24-hour shift: overtime hours are the greater of hours over 12 hours per day in the work month OR hours of work over 264 hours in the work month.
11. Fire-fighters: 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).

Last Reviewed: September 2019

The overtime standards in the Code do not apply to employees who are not covered by the Code.

The following workers are also not entitled to overtime pay:

• Waged, non-family farm and ranch employees
• Lookout observers
• Supervisors or managers
• Employees working on matters of a confidential nature
• Salespeople who:
  • solicit orders mainly outside of their employer’s place of business and who are paid in part or in full by commission
  • sell automobiles, recreational vehicles, trucks or buses
  • sell manufactured homes
  • sell farm machinery
  • sell heavy duty construction equipment or road construction equipment
  • are employed by a home builder to sell residential homes
• Real estate brokers
• Dealers or advisers who trade securities
• Insurance agents who are paid only on commission
• People who engage in a direct selling business under a direct selling business license (under the Consumer Protection Act)
• Land agents licensed under the Land Agents Licensing Act
• Extras in a film or video production
• Counsellors or instructors at an educational or recreational camp that is operated on a charitable or not-for-profit basis for children or handicapped individuals or for religious purposes
• Registered architects, restricted practitioners or vising project architects
• Accountants
• Chiropractors
• Dentists and denturists
• Engineers (including members-in-training)
• Lawyers (including students-at-law)
• Optometrists
• Podiatrists
• Psychologists
• Veterinarians
• Agrologists (including agrologists in training)
• Information systems professionals (employees mainly engaged in investigating, analyzing, designing, developing, implementing, operating or managing information systems based on computer and related technologies through the objective application of specialized knowledge and professional judgment)

Last Reviewed: September 2019

Your employer must pay you for overtime hours at 1.5 times your regular wage rate.

Last Reviewed: September 2019

Only if you have entered into an overtime agreement with your employer.

Last Reviewed: September 2019

An overtime agreement says that an employee can take time off with regular pay instead of overtime pay. Overtime hours are banked and time off with regular pay is taken at a later date. The agreement can relate to all overtime pay or part of it.

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 by the employer at the time the agreement was made.

There are certain minimum provisions that the Code says apply to all overtime agreement, even if the agreement does not specifically include them. These terms include:

• if time off is not provided, the employer must pay the employee overtime pay at 1.5 times the employee’s regular wage
• time off must be taken within 6 months of the end of the pay period when it was earned. For example, if you are paid at the end of every month, and you banked overtime hours in January, you must take that time off before the end of July
• the agreement cannot be changed or cancelled without one month’s written notice
• the employer must provide a copy of the overtime agreement to each employee affected by it.

As well, the law on banking overtime hours changed on September 1, 2019. The law used to say that, if there was an overtime agreement in place, an employee could take 1.5 hours off for every hour of banked overtime.

As of September 1, 2019, overtime hours can only be banked at straight time. This means an employee can only take one hour of time off for every hour of overtime worked.

If you banked overtime hours before September 1, 2019 and have not yet taken the time off, you can still take 1.5 hours off for every overtime hour worked (unless your overtime agreement or collective agreement provides for a higher rate).

The government also repealed (cancelled) Flexible Averaging Agreements, effective September 1, 2019. Existing agreements will remain valid until the earlier of the cancellation date of the agreement or August 31, 2021.

Last Reviewed: September 2019

NOTE: Averaging arrangements used to be called hours of work averaging agreements. The law changed on November 1, 2020. The new law is below. Some hours of work averaging agreements continue on under the old laws until they end. There are many ways for the hours of work averaging agreement to come to an end, including by the employer giving 30 days’ notice to the employees. Contact Employment Standards for more information. 

An averaging arrangement averages an employee’s hours over a period of 1 to 52 weeks to determine how much overtime pay or time off in lieu the employee is entitled to. An averaging arrangement can be part of a collective agreement. If there is no collective agreement, an employer can require or allow employees to work an averaging arrangement.

An averaging arrangement must be in writing. There are several items that need to be included in an averaging arrangement:

• the number of weeks over which the hours will be averaged, to a maximum of 52 weeks (unless authorized by a variance or exemption under section 74 or 74.1 of the Code)
• 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 off with pay will be calculated

An employer must give employees at least 2 weeks notice in writing of a requirement to work an averaging arrangement. An employer does not need the employees’ consent first. The period can be shortened if the employer and employees agree. This notice period does not apply to new employees – the employer must simply give written notice of the requirement to work the averaging arrangement before the employee starts work with the employer.

An employer usually must give an employee 24 hours’ written notice of a change in work hours and 8 hours of rest between shifts. However, an averaging arrangement can say how the employer can change the schedule of daily and weekly hours of work. The agreement must include a statement that the employer can amend (change) the schedule according to the averaging arrangement. Employees still need 8 hours rest between shifts.

The employer must provide a copy to each employee to whom the averaging arrangement applies.

Last Reviewed: November 2020

If you are paid entirely on commission, overtime is paid out at minimum wage.

If you are paid partly by salary and partly by commission, overtime is paid out at your salary rate (if it is higher than minimum wage) or minimum wage (if your salary rate is equal to or less than minimum wage).

Last Reviewed: September 2019