How to File an Employment Standards Complaint in Canada, by Province

An employment standards complaint asks a government office to make your employer follow the minimum rules on pay, hours, vacation, leaves and termination. An officer investigates, and if money is owed, the office can order the employer to pay it. Which office takes your complaint depends on whether your employer is federally or provincially regulated, and each office has its own deadline and its own limit on how far back it can reach.

This page covers the complaint itself. The pages on each kind of dispute, in the workplace rights and employee benefits hub, explain how to work out what you’re owed before you file.

Federal or provincial: which office takes your complaint

Most workers file with the province or territory where they do the work. Alberta, for example, says it “can only investigate complaints where the work has been performed in Alberta”, and that the location of the employer’s head office is not relevant. Manitoba sends workers whose work was mostly performed elsewhere to the office in the province where it was done.

Workers in federally regulated industries file with the federal Labour Program under Part III of the Canada Labour Code instead. The federal list of regulated industries includes:

• banks;
• air transportation, including airlines and airports;
• railways, and trucking and bus services, that cross provincial or international borders;
• telecommunications (telephone, Internet and cable) and radio and television broadcasting;
• postal and courier services, and most federal Crown corporations, such as Canada Post.

The Labour Program answers jurisdiction questions at 1-800-641-4049.

Unionized workers usually go through the grievance process in their collective agreement instead. Ontario, for example, says a claim generally can’t be filed by an employee who is “represented by a union and covered by a collective agreement”, and British Columbia lists unionized workplaces among those its employment standards don’t cover.

Some problems belong to other bodies. Ontario’s claim form isn’t for occupational health and safety, a human rights complaint or a WSIB claim; an injury at work goes through workers’ compensation. Independent contractors aren’t covered either (Saskatchewan says so directly), which is why app-based work raises its own questions, covered in gig worker rights in Canada.

Deadlines and how far back an order can reach

Two limits apply in every jurisdiction: a deadline to file, and a recovery window that caps how far back the officer can order unpaid wages. The government pages below state that limit as a period of time, not a dollar amount. A complaint filed late can be refused outright, and one filed on time can still recover only the wages inside the window.

A few details the table can’t hold:

• Ontario: claims go to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, online or on the PDF claim form. The ministry’s Employment Standards Information Centre (1-800-531-5551) helps identify the issues before you file.
• Federal: the 6-month deadline is for monetary complaints. The federal recovery rules also make corporate directors liable for unpaid wages up to 6 months’ wages when the company can’t pay.
• Manitoba: the window is longer for vacation pay and general holiday pay (the statutory holiday pay rules) than for regular and overtime wages, as the table shows.
• Prince Edward Island: the deadline and window come from the Employment Standards Act passed in 2024 (chapter 66), which replaced the old Act; the old Act’s consolidation now shows it as repealed.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: the 2-year limit in the Labour Standards Act applies while you’re still employed; once the job ends, the complaint is due within 6 months of the termination date.
• Yukon and Nunavut: the deadline isn’t recorded here; the office’s page or its staff can confirm it.

Before you file

Several offices expect you to raise the problem with your employer first. Alberta calls talking to your employer the first step, and Manitoba says employees “should first discuss their concerns with their employers”, because the problem may be a mistake the employer hasn’t noticed.

Gather what shows the work and the pay: your pay stubs and pay statements, your own record of hours, schedules, your contract and any messages about pay. Manitoba asks for documents such as “pay stubs, record of time worked” when an officer calls, and federal officers can work out what is owed “using the best available evidence” when an employer has no payroll records.

The dispute pages explain how to calculate each kind of claim:

• wages that were never paid: what to do when your employer hasn’t paid you, including employer bankruptcy and the federal Wage Earner Protection Program;
• hours over the threshold: claiming overtime your employer won’t pay;
• vacation pay at the end of a job or on each cheque: collecting vacation pay you’re owed;
• being treated as a contractor while working as an employee: what to do if you were misclassified as a contractor, with the status test itself on the employee vs contractor tax page;
• a missing Record of Employment: it’s a federal document, and New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island both say their employment standards offices can’t retrieve one, so the steps are on the page about an employer who won’t issue your ROE and the Record of Employment and EI application guide.

What happens after you file

The steps are broadly similar across these offices: the office checks that it has jurisdiction and that the complaint is on time, contacts both sides, tries to settle, then investigates and decides.

• Settling first. British Columbia says many complaints resolve through voluntary resolution once an investigator explains the rules. Quebec’s CNESST offers free mediation. In Nova Scotia, once an officer decides an amount is owed, the parties “cannot agree to settle the complaint for less than the amount owed”.
• Investigation. The officer can examine payroll records and timesheets, talk to other employees and gather evidence. In Ontario, claims are taken in the order received, usually go first to an early resolution officer, and then to an employment standards officer, who writes the decision and enforces it. The investigation “can take several months”. The federal Labour Program treats a complaint as abandoned if you don’t answer its letters within the stated time, so keep your contact details current with the office.
• The order to pay. If money is owed and the employer won’t pay, the office issues an order. It’s a Payment Order federally, a determination in British Columbia, an order of officer in Alberta and a wage assessment in Saskatchewan. In Alberta an order the employer neither pays nor appeals is filed as a judgment of the Court. In Quebec the CNESST sends the employer a claim with 10 days to pay, and if it still isn’t paid, a CNESST lawyer can take the employer to court at no cost to you.
• Appeals. Either side can usually appeal. Examples are the Manitoba Labour Board, New Brunswick’s Labour and Employment Board, an independent adjudicator in Saskatchewan, and the Canada Industrial Relations Board for a federal review decision on a question of law or jurisdiction. Alberta gives an employee 21 days from the notice to appeal.

Complaint or lawsuit

An employment standards complaint enforces the minimums in the Act, and the office investigates for you. Ontario’s guide points out that you may have greater rights under an employment contract or the common law, and those are claimed in court. Several jurisdictions make you pick one route for the same issue:

• Ontario: a claim generally can’t be filed if you’ve already taken court action against the employer for the same issue. If you file a claim and then decide to go to court, you have to withdraw the claim within two weeks after filing it.
• Alberta: the office “may not be able to investigate a complaint when there is ongoing court action on the same matter”.
• Northwest Territories: pursuing termination pay through Employment Standards may stop you from suing for unjust dismissal later.

The choice matters most when you’ve been dismissed. A complaint can recover the statutory termination pay and notice period, while common-law reasonable notice, covered in the guide to severance pay, is claimed in court. The wrongful dismissal guide compares the two routes.

Two jurisdictions also have a separate complaint about the dismissal itself, with short deadlines:

• Federal unjust dismissal: due within 90 days of the dismissal. It’s open to non-unionized employees who aren’t managers and have at least 12 consecutive months with the employer.
• Quebec dismissal without just and sufficient cause: due within 45 days of the dismissal, for workers with at least 2 years with the same employer.

Protection from reprisal

The rules below bar employers from punishing employees for filing.

• Ontario: the Employment Standards Act prohibits penalizing an employee for asking the employer to comply with the Act, asking about their rights, or filing a complaint. An employer can’t fire, suspend, intimidate or cut the pay of an employee for those reasons. Taking a leave under the Act, such as a job-protected pregnancy or parental leave, is protected the same way. An officer can order the employer to reinstate the employee and compensate any loss, and can order unpaid wages paid “whether or not there has been a reprisal”.
• Federal: reprisal complaints go to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, not the Labour Program. They cover dismissal, suspension, layoff, demotion, discipline or financial penalties for filing a labour standards complaint.
• Quebec: a complaint concerning a prohibited practice, for sanctions or reprisals, is due within 45 days of the dismissal or sanction.
• Saskatchewan: when an employee alleges discriminatory action for complaining, “the onus is on the employer” to show the action wasn’t because of the complaint. Remedies include reinstatement and the wages the employee would have earned.
• British Columbia, Alberta and New Brunswick: British Columbia bars intimidating or discriminating against you for making a complaint, Alberta bars firing you for it, and New Brunswick bars dismissal, suspension, layoff, discipline or other penalties.

If you’re still working there, some offices can limit what the employer learns. British Columbia lets you ask to keep a complaint confidential, and New Brunswick reveals your name to the employer only with your permission, though both note an investigation may not be able to go ahead anonymously.

Related pages

• Workplace rights and employee benefits in Canada: the hub for every dispute and entitlement page.
• My employer hasn’t paid me: demand letters, small claims court and employer insolvency.
• Wrongful dismissal in Canada: how a court claim compares with a complaint.