Overtime Exemptions: Are Managers and Supervisors Really Excluded?

Begin from the default. In Ontario, the Employment Standards Act, 2000 requires overtime pay of at least 1.5× the regular rate for hours over 44 in a work week (s. 22(1)). Federally, the Canada Labour Code requires 1.5× for hours over the standard 8/day or 40/week (s. 174). These are the general entitlements; an exemption is a carve-out from them, and carve-outs are read narrowly.

Crucially, the details of who is exempt do not live in the headline overtime section — they live in the regulations. That is why the section that grants you overtime (s. 22 in Ontario) will not, on its own, tell you whether your role is exempt. You have to look to the exemption regulation that sits alongside it.

Under the Ontario framework, employees whose work is managerial or supervisory in character can be exempt from the overtime provisions of the Act — but the exemption is defined by what the person actually does, not by their title. The generally understood test is functional: the exemption is aimed at employees who perform managerial or supervisory work and who perform other, non-exempt tasks only on an occasional basis.

Two people can share the title "Manager" and land on opposite sides of the line. One genuinely runs a team, makes hiring and scheduling decisions, and directs the work of others; that person's function is managerial. The other has "Manager" on a badge but spends the day doing the same front-line tasks as the people around them, with no real authority; that person is doing non-exempt work and the title does not change it.

Because the precise wording and boundaries sit in the exemption regulation rather than in s. 22 itself, you should verify the specific exemption that is said to apply to your role before accepting that overtime does not. Do not assume exclusion from the job title alone.

Under the Canada Labour Code and its regulations, certain managers and members of specified professions may fall outside the standard hours and overtime rules of Part III. Here too, the operative question is the actual function of the role — real managerial responsibility — rather than the label attached to it.

Because the exact scope of the federal exclusions and the professions they cover is set out in the Code and its regulations, the safe approach is to check the specific provision said to exempt you against what you genuinely do day to day, rather than treating any "manager" designation as automatically decisive.

When you strip away the labels, the recurring question in every regime is the same:

Do you exercise real managerial authority — or do you just carry a managerial title?

Useful signals that point toward genuine managerial/supervisory function:

• You direct and assign the work of other employees.
• You have real input into hiring, discipline, scheduling or performance decisions.
• Managerial duties are the core of your job, with non-managerial tasks only occasional.

Signals that you may have been mislabelled:

• Your "management" title came with no change in what you actually do.
• You spend most of your time on the same front-line tasks as non-exempt colleagues.
• You have no authority over other staff, budgets or decisions.

If the second list describes you, the exemption may not apply — and you may still be owed overtime at 1.5× (federally under s. 174, in Ontario under s. 22).

• Write down your real duties. Describe how you actually spend your week, task by task. Function is the test.
• Find the specific exemption being claimed. Ask which provision your employer relies on, and read it against your duties.
• Don't rely on the title. A promotion in name only does not lawfully convert paid overtime into unpaid hours.
• Count the hours anyway. If the exemption turns out not to apply, your overtime is calculated from those hours over the threshold.

• Do Salaried Employees Get Overtime in Canada?
• Unpaid Overtime in Canada: The Complete Guide
• Averaging Agreements: How Employers Can Change Your Overtime Threshold