Are managers entitled to overtime pay?
This article was originally published by The Hamilton Spectator.
Q: I have a manager title at my job and am paid a salary. I work a lot of hours, but I don’t “manage” or supervise that much. Am I entitled to overtime pay?
A: Being paid a salary does not automatically disentitle a worker from overtime pay, but the industry and the type of job you do may have some bearing.
In general, under Ontario law, working more than 44 hours in any given week will entitle most workers to overtime pay, which is paid at time-and-a-half of the effective hourly rate for any hours worked beyond the first 44 hours.
Even if you have a manager or supervisor title, you could still be entitled to overtime pay. Section 22(9) of Ontario’s Employment Standards Act entitles managers or supervisors to overtime pay if they work more than 44 hours in a given week, and more than 50 per cent of their duties in that week are, in fact, non-managerial or non-supervisory in nature.
On the other hand, if the bulk of the manager’s weekly duties entail actual managing or supervising then this will typically disentitle a manager from overtime pay for the applicable week(s).
The existence of an overtime policy requiring workers to get pre-approval before working extra time may not matter either. This was the case in the recent class action lawsuit against CIBC in which the Court of Appeal confirmed that there was a culture of pressure to work overtime to get ahead at the bank, and the bank was relying on the illegal policy to avoid paying overtime.
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