Part III of the Canada Labour Code (Labour Standards)
The Motor Vehicle Operators Hours of Work Regulations modify sections 169 and 171 of Part III of the Canada Labour Code.
They cover employees in the federal motor transport industry including bus operators, city motor vehicle operators and highway motor vehicle operators involved in the interprovincial and international transport of goods or passengers and in the transport of mail on contract with Canada Post. (These are further defined in Section I – Definitions, below.)
The Motor Vehicle Operators Hours of Work Regulations do not replace Division I – Hours of Work of Part III of the Canada Labour Code. They replace sections 169 and 171 for the employees mentioned above in the areas of standard hours of work, averaging, standard working hours for a week in which a holiday occurs, and maximum hours of work.
Information concerning subjects such as standard hours, maximum hours of work, and averaging for all employees other than those employed in the motor transport industry can be found in Pamphlet 9 – Hours of Work.
Information will be presented as follows:
I. Definitions
II. Standard Hours of Work
III. Maximum Hours of Work
IV. Standard Hours of Work After Which Overtime Must be Paid
V. Standard Hours of Work in a Week in Which a Holiday Occurs
VI. Averaging
VII. Mixed Employment
VIII. Weekly Day of Rest
IX. Recording the Hours of Work
The following definitions may assist you in understanding the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Operators Hours of Work Regulations.
Means a person who operates a motor vehicle. This includes highway and city truck drivers and bus operators.
Means any vehicle that is operated by an employee and is run by other than muscular power but does not include any vehicle designed for running on rails.
Means a motor vehicle operator who is not a bus operator or a city motor vehicle operator.
Means a motor vehicle operator who operates only within a 16 km radius of his or her home terminal and is not a bus operator. It includes any motor vehicle operator who is classified as a city motor vehicle operator in a collective agreement or is not classified in any such agreement but is considered to be a city motor vehicle operator according to the industry practice in the geographical area where he or she is employed.
Means a motor vehicle operator who operates a bus.
Means an employee engaged in the motor transport industry, including maintenance personnel, warehousemen and office staff, whose hours of work are not described in the Motor Vehicle Operators Hours of Work Regulations.
The Regulations set standard hours of work in a day and in a week. If an employee is requested to work longer than the standard hours, he or she must be paid at least one and one-half times the regular rate of pay. The purpose of standard hours is to allow employees a reasonable amount of free personal time.
Motor vehicle operators, including all employees normally referred to as truck drivers and bus drivers, may work those hours permitted by the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations, 1994 (Administered by Transport Canada. See Appendix A.)
The maximum number of hours in a week is 48. (See Appendix A.)
Yes. There are circumstances in which an employer may require or permit employees, who are not motor vehicle operators, to work more than 48 hours in a week.
No. Certain hours need not be counted.
These are the only periods not counted as hours of work. All other time from the beginning of an operator’s shift to the end of that shift must be counted.
No. Time spent does not count when the bus is in the garage or parked and the employee is not required to stay with it.
The standard hours of work after which the overtime rate must be paid for all motor vehicle operators, including city operators, highway operators and bus operators, can be found in Appendix A.
NOTE: Section 166 of the Code defines a day as any period of 24 consecutive hours. A week is the period between midnight on Saturday and midnight on the immediately following Saturday.
Yes. Under certain circumstances, the standard hours of bus operators may be averaged over a period of two or more weeks.
The standard hours of work after which overtime must be paid for non-driving personnel can be found in Appendix A.
Yes. Where the employer is entitled to average, the following applies:
The standard hours in a week in which a holiday occurs, for all these employees, are found in Appendix A.
No. In no case may the working hours of a highway or city motor vehicle operator be averaged.
Yes. Under certain circumstances, the standard working hours may be averaged over a period of two or more weeks. The rules of averaging are the same as for all employees under Division I – Hours of Work of Part III of the Canada Labour Code. These rules are explained more fully in pamphlet 9 – Hours of Work. For more detail, obtain information from a Labour Program office of Human Resources and Social Development Canada.
Mixed employment can take the form of a city motor vehicle operator performing the work of a highway motor vehicle operator and vice versa or a motor vehicle operator performing the work of a non-driving employee and vice versa.
Appendix B may help in determining the hours of work in these situations.
Section 173 of the Code stipulates that hours of work shall be scheduled or worked so that each employee has at least one full day of rest in a week. (Wherever practicable, this day of rest should be Sunday.)
Yes. The Regulations provide that hours may be scheduled without regard to section 173 when:
All employers are required to make, and keep for 36 months after the work is performed by an employee, complete and accurate records. Among the items which must be shown are the hours worked each day.
Under the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations, an employer must also keep detailed logs of the hours of work of motor vehicle operators. These are acceptable for the purpose of calculating overtime pay.
This publication is provided for information only. For interpretation and application purposes, please refer to Part III of the Canada Labour Code (Labour Standards), the Canada Labour Standards Regulations, and relevant amendments.
Class | Industry | Standard Hours After Which Overtime is Payable |
Standard Hours in a Week in Which a Holiday Occurs |
Averaging Permitted |
Maximum Hours | |
Daily | Weekly | |||||
1. Highway Motor Vehicle Operators | Transport of Goods and Mail | - | 60 | 50 | No | As per Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations, 1994 |
2. City Motor Vehicle Operators | Transport of Goods and Mail | 9 | 45 | 36 | No | ” ” |
3. Bus Operators | Transport of Passengers | 8 | 40 | 32 | Yes | ” ” |
4. Non-driving Personnel (including maintenance personnel, warehousemen, office staff) | All sectors | 8 | 40 | 32 | Yes | 48 – Averaging permitted where applicable |
Monday to Thursday | Friday |
48 hours as a highway driver |
10 hours as a city driver and 2 hours as a warehouseman |
Monday to Wednesday | Thursday | Saturday |
24 hours (eight hours per day) as a city driver |
10 hours as a warehouseman |
10 hours as a highway driver |
You can order additional copies of this publication, indicating the departmental catalogue number LT-040-03-07, from:
Enquiries Centre
Human Resources and
Social Development Canada
140 Promenade du Portage,
Phase IV, Level 0
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0J9
Fax (819) 953-7260
E-mail: publications@hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca