How to Claim Unpaid Wages and Overtime in Canada: A Step-by-Step Guide
There is no single 'Canadian' way to claim unpaid overtime — the path, the regulator and above all the deadline depend on whether you are federally regulated, in Ontario, or in Québec. This hub maps the whole route step by step, and the deadline differences that decide whether you recover anything.
Step 1 — Confirm Which Regime Governs You
Everything downstream depends on this. A worker in Canada is covered by exactly one of three regimes, and they never mix:
- Federal — the Canada Labour Code, if your employer is a federally regulated undertaking (banks, interprovincial and air transport, telecommunications, broadcasting, postal service, and similar). Regulator: the Labour Program (ESDC).
- Ontario — the Employment Standards Act, 2000, for the great majority of Ontario employees. Regulator: the Ministry of Labour.
- Québec — the Loi sur les normes du travail, for most Québec employees. Regulator: the CNESST.
Get this wrong and you'll apply the wrong overtime threshold and the wrong recovery window. If you're not certain whether you're federally or provincially regulated, resolve that question before anything else.
Step 2 — Quantify What You're Owed
Now put a number on it. The two variables are the threshold (when overtime starts) and the rate (always 1.5×):
- Federal: overtime is hours over 8 in a day or 40 in a week (Canada Labour Code s. 169), paid at 1.5× the regular rate (s. 174).
- Québec: overtime is hours over 40 in a week (art. 52), paid at +50% (1.5×) of the usual hourly wage, excluding hourly-based premiums (art. 55).
- Ontario: overtime is hours over 44 in a week (ESA s. 22), paid at 1.5× the regular rate.
The rate is the same everywhere; the threshold is the trap. Applying Ontario's 44-hour line to a federal or Québec file understates your claim; applying 40 hours to an Ontario file overstates it. Confirm the correct floor rate for your pay year too — see our guide on the Canadian minimum wage, since your overtime is built on a wage that can never be below the indexed minimum.
Step 3 — Gather Your Proof
Your claim rests on hours. Assemble your own evidence — a dated log of the hours you actually worked, your payslips, schedules, messages, and access or login records — and know that your employer is legally required to keep hour records too. Federally, the employer must record the hours worked each day and overtime paid, retained 36 months (Canada Labour Standards Regulations, s. 24). In Ontario, it must record dates and times worked and hours over 44, kept three years (ESA s. 15). In Québec, the employer keeps a registry of daily and weekly hours and overtime (Règlement N-1.1, r. 6), and these must appear on your pay slip (art. 46 LNT). You can request those records — they are a core part of your file.
Step 4 — Raise It With Your Employer First
Before filing, put your claim to your employer in writing. Set out the hours, the calculation, and the amount, and ask for payment. Many disputes resolve here, and a clear written demand also strengthens your file if you do proceed. Keep a copy of everything.
Step 5 — File With the Right Regulator (and Watch the Deadline)
If the employer doesn't pay, you file with the regulator for your regime — and this is where the differences matter most:
- Federal → Labour Program. You file a complaint; it is decided by the Head (a delegate of the Minister), who can issue a payment order. A payment order cannot reach wages for the period more than 24 months before the complaint (or before termination, if employment ended first) — Canada Labour Code s. 251.1(1.1). Crucially, the complaint itself must be filed within six months of the last day the wages were required to be paid (s. 251.01). Details: filing a federal Labour Program complaint.
- Ontario → Ministry of Labour. You file a claim; an employment standards officer investigates and can order the employer to pay wages. The officer may not order wages that became due more than two years before the complaint was filed (ESA s. 111). Details: filing an ESA claim in Ontario.
- Québec → CNESST. You file a pecuniary claim with the CNESST, which can claim the wages owed on your behalf; failing that, a civil action proceeds before the Tribunal administratif du travail. The prescription is one year from each due date (LNT art. 115) — the shortest window of the three.
Deadlines Decide Whether You Recover Anything
Read Step 5 again, because the deadlines are the thing that determines your outcome — more than the merits of your claim. Québec's one-year, due-date-by-due-date prescription is the sharpest; every month you wait, another pay period can fall out of reach. Ontario caps recovery at two years; the federal payment order reaches back 24 months but demands the complaint within six months. Because these clocks differ so much, the deadline is not a footnote — it's the headline. Our dedicated guide on the time limits to claim unpaid overtime in Canada breaks down each clock.
Cadre
Legal basis — federal complaint deadline (s. 251.01) and Ontario recovery limit (ESA s. 111)
Canada Labour Code, s. 251.01(2): a complaint of non-payment of wages must be made "...six months from the last day on which the employer was required to pay those wages or other amounts."
Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 111(1): "If an employee files a complaint alleging a contravention of this Act or the regulations, the employment standards officer investigating the complaint may not issue an order for wages that became due to the employee under the provision that was the subject of the complaint or any other provision of this Act or the regulations if the wages became due more than two years before the complaint was filed."
Québec: a civil action under the LNT prescribes "par un an à compter de chaque échéance" — one year from each due date (art. 115).
Sources: Canada Labour Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. L-2, ss. 251.01, 251.1(1.1); Employment Standards Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 41, s. 111; Loi sur les normes du travail, RLRQ N-1.1, art. 115.
CTA
Turn your hours into a claim-ready number
Every step above rests on one foundation: the hours you actually worked. PayeMesHeures is an hours-audit tool that cross-references your real schedule against your payslips, applies the correct threshold for your jurisdiction, and estimates what you're owed at 1.5× the ordinary rate — ready to use as the basis for your demand and your filing. It's free to start. Run your audit before the deadline for your regime moves another pay period out of reach.