Federal Labour Legislation
Jurisdiction
Who is covered by federal labour legislation?
Most employers and their employees in Canada fall under the jurisdiction of the provincial labour legislation in their province. The federal Labour Program oversees the "federally regulated" sector of the labour force. This is approximately only 10% of the labour force. The rest of the labour force falls under provincial jurisdiction.Broadly speaking, the activities that come within federal jurisdiction include:
- Interprovincial and international services such as
- railways;
- highway transport;
- telephone, telegraph, and cable systems;
- pipelines;
- canals;
- ferries, tunnels, and bridges;
- shipping and shipping services;
- Radio and television broadcasting, including cablevision;
- Air transport, aircraft operations, and aerodromes;
- Banks;
- Undertakings for the protection and preservation of fisheries as a natural resource;
- Undertakings declared by Parliament to be for the general advantage of Canada such as
- most grain elevators;
- flour and seed mills, feed warehouses and grain-seed cleaning plants;
- uranium mining and processing;
- certain individual undertakings such as Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company
Managerial and Professional Employees
The hours-of-work provisions of the Code do not apply to employees who are managers or superintendents or who exercise management functions or to members of architectural, dental, engineering, legal, or medical professions. Managers are also excluded from coverage under the unjust dismissal provisions.
Part-time and Casual Employees
The Code makes no distinction between full-time and part-time or casual employees. All are covered by its provisions if they meet the qualifying requirements.
This is a general outline of the undertakings subject to the Canada Labour Code. If you are employed in or operate an undertaking other than described above, you should contact your provincial or territorial labour department for information relating to labour standards.
In most cases, the above guidelines should indicate whether you and your company are covered by federal or provincial legislation. However, you should note that the jurisdiction of federal and provincial labour legislation can sometimes get quite complicated. You may need to discuss your particular company's operations with a Labour Affairs Officer near you in order to determine if you are covered by federal or provincial legislation.