The Act respecting labour standards applies to most employees in Quebec. An employee is a person who works for an employer and who earns a wage or salary.

However, the Act doesn’t apply to the following people:

• students doing an internship (stage);
  
• independent contractors, meaning people who run their own business;
  
• sitters who take care of a child, a sick person, a disabled person or an elderly person on an occasional basis and in the person’s home. A teenager who babysits on Saturday evenings while the parents are out would fall into this category;
  
• people working in federally-regulated businesses enterprises. This includes employees of the federal government, banks (but not credit unions/caisses populaires), radio or television stations, interprovincial transportation businesses, ports, telecommunication companies, etc. These people are covered by labour standards found in the Canada Labour Code, which is a federal law.

Also, the Act respecting labour standards provides that the following people are under a specific legal framework, which means that only certain parts of the Act apply to them:

• Managers have a right to the following benefits of the Act: the right to be absent for family or parental reasons, maternity and parental leave, protection against psychological harassment and protection from forced retirement.
  
• Construction workers' working conditions are covered by a specific law. They are still protected by the Act respecting labour standards in cases of psychological harassment, family leave and forced retirement.
  
• Agricultural workers are entitled to minimum wage, annual vacation and protection against psychological harassment under the Act.
  
• Live-in caregivers("domestic workers") who live at their employer’s home have a right to the general minimum wage, the regular workweek and protection against psychological harassment.

For more information on the application of the Act respecting labour standards, consult the Infosheet entitled Labour standards in Quebec.

No. Your employer has to respect the minimal standards set by the Act respecting labour standards. She cannot fire you or use any other type of reprisal against you just because you asked that your rights be respected. If your employer imposes a sanction on you when you ask for your overtime pay, she is breaking the law.

All employers have to respect the Act; they cannot act as if it didn’t apply to them. If your employers violate the labour standards, you can complain to the Commission des normes du travail within 45 days of the measures being taken against you.

No. You have the right to make a complaint about your employer— she cannot fire, suspend, or transfer you, or use any other reprisals or discriminatory measures against you for doing so.

If your employer violates this principle, you can complain to the Comission des normes du travail. But be careful: you have to file the complaint within 45 days of the measure being taken by the employer (ie. the firing, suspension, transfer, reprisals, discrimination, etc.).

No. In fact, if you receive a summons to appear (commonly called a subpoena), the law obliges you to show up and answer the questions asked to the best of your ability. Your employer cannot take any form of reprisal against you. Your employer has to let you off work so that you can testify—but she is not obliged to pay you for this time. If your employer takes any action against you, you can complain to the Commission des normes du travail within 45 days.

No. Your employer is even obliged to cooperate with the party seizing the wages, to complete the necessary forms, and to administer and send the amount claimed to the people involved.

No, he cannot. If your employer does so, you can complain to the Commission des normes du travail within 45 days.

However, your employer can transfer you to another position if your working conditions are physically dangerous to you or your fetus. If you disagree with the change in position, you can refuse by presenting a medical certificate (doctor’s note) to your employer, saying that your regular working conditions present no danger.

Your employer can demand that you work overtime, but you have the right to refuse to work past a certain number of hours, or under certain circumstances. For more information, consult the Infosheet entitled Overtime.

Your job is protected under certain conditions. If you have been working for at least three continuous months for the employer, and if you haven’t been absent for more than 26 weeks due to illness or accident in the last 12 months, your employer must give you back your regular job, with the same conditions.

If your position no longer exists when you return, your employer must give you all the rights and privileges that you would have had a right to if you had been at work when the post was eliminated. This principle also applies in cases of parental and maternity leave. For more information, consult the Infosheets entitled Parental leave and Maternity leave.

If your employer does not respect the above rules, you can file a complaint with the Commission des normes du travail within 45 days.

No. Your employer cannot pressure you to retire because you will soon turn 65. Nor can he dismiss you, suspend you, discriminate against you or otherwise mistreat you because you have reached this age.

If your employer does any of these things, you may file a complaint with the Commission des normes du travail within a time limit of 90 days.

At this time, it is hard to say exactly what psychological harassment is, since rules against it have only recently been added to the Act respecting labour standards. In the future, the evolution of judgments on this question will make it easier to define. However, we can say that psychological harassment is when words or behaviour make a workplace extremely unpleasant for a person and threaten his psychological or physical integrity. This includes abuse, humiliation or oppression. The behaviour or comments are usually repeated, but sometimes it is just one serious act. Psychological harassment might be committed by the employer, by other workers or even by clients. We invite you to consult the Infosheet entitled Psychological harassment under the Act respecting labour standards.

Your employer cannot fire you without a just and sufficient cause – for example, because he can no longer employ you, or because you have committed a serious fault in the course of your work.

If you have been working for at least two years for your employer and you are fired without just and sufficient cause, you can file a written complaint with the Commission des normes du travail within 45 days of being fired.

To learn more about what a just and sufficient cause is in your own situation, we recommend that you contact the Commission des normes du travail.