When can a collective agreement deviate from the law? In a
recent Ontario arbitration decision, the issue arose of whether a
work schedule in agreed to in collective bargaining failed to
comply with the Hours of Work provisions in the
Ontario Employment Standards Act,
2000 ("ESA").
Section 18 of the ESA requires employees to
have certain amounts of time off per day, per week and in between
shifts. However Section 5(2) of the ESA permits a
greater benefit to prevail in a collective agreement (or
individual contract) that provides for more than the
ESA requirements on specific subject matter.
This became an issue in Durham
(Regional Municipality) and CUPE, Local 132 (Hours Free From Work),
Re, where a collective agreement permitted employees to
volunteer for double shifts (one regular shift followed by a
voluntary overtime shift) and thereby go over the maximum shift of
13 hours allowed by the ESA.
