Canadian Janitorial Contract Labour Standards: Who Sets Overtime and Holiday Pay

What to take away

Federal PSPC janitorial contracts follow Canada Labour Code Part III overtime and holiday pay rules, administered by the federal Labour Program.
Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 applies to office cleaning in Ontario; British Columbia's Employment Standards Act uses daily and weekly overtime triggers.
Quebec's Act respecting labour standards covers that province's cleaning work.
Municipal business licences do not change provincial minimum standards.
Skipping the correct standard can block a contractor from future federal work.

Canadian janitorial contract labour standards split three ways: federal, provincial, private. A PSPC janitorial contract puts the cleaning employer under the Canada Labour Code, while a Toronto office tower follows Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000.

Municipal permits and licenses sit beside those statutes and do not set overtime or holiday pay.

Who has jurisdiction

The Labour Program at Employment and Social Development Canada explains the Canada Labour Code's Part III standards for federally regulated workplaces. A PSPC janitorial contract on federal property, such as an office tower occupied by a federal department or Crown corporation, is federally regulated. Provincial ESA rules do not apply inside that building.

The federal minimum wage applies to those federally regulated cleaning employers. It is set at the minimum wage of the province or territory where the cleaner works, and the federal Labour Program adjusts it each April 1. Vacation pay under Part III is 4 percent of wages in the first five years of continuous employment and 6 percent after that.

Overtime trigger

Federal PSPC contract: After 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week
Ontario office cleaning: After 44 hours a week
British Columbia office cleaning: After 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week
Municipal business licence: No overtime rule

Holiday pay rule

Federal PSPC contract: General holiday pay after 30 days of continuous employment, at 1/20 of wages earned in the four weeks before the holiday
Ontario office cleaning: Public holiday pay: regular wages plus vacation pay for the four work weeks before the holiday, divided by 20
British Columbia office cleaning: Statutory holiday pay: an average day's pay, total wages in the 30 calendar days before the holiday divided by days worked
Municipal business licence: No holiday pay rule

A private contract cannot set a lower overtime threshold than the statute that applies. If a federal cleaning contract says overtime starts after 44 hours, that term is void because the Canada Labour Code starts it after 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.

Provincially regulated office cleaning in a Toronto commercial tower follows the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000, where overtime begins after 44 hours a week with no daily trigger. British Columbia's Employment Standards Act uses both a daily and a weekly overtime trigger, unlike Ontario's weekly-only threshold. Every other province and territory sets its own overtime and holiday pay rules in its own employment standards legislation, so the province where the building sits decides the standard.

Municipal business licenses in Vancouver or Mississauga are separate from labor standards. They may require a license to operate, but they do not change the province's overtime or holiday pay rules.

What triggers a permit or standard

The trigger is not always a permit. For most cleaning work, the employment relationship triggers the governing statute. Federally regulated cleaning employers may apply to the Labour Program for a modified work schedule under the Canada Labour Code, but ordinary overtime does not need a permit. Provincial overtime averaging agreements under Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 or British Columbia's Employment Standards Act do not need government approval. They must be in writing and signed before the averaging period starts.

To determine which standard applies, follow these steps.

Determine Governing Labour Standard

Identify who ultimately pays for cleaning contract
Check whether site is federally regulated
Apply federal Code or provincial ESA
Review written agreement for overtime averaging clause

Steps: which standard applies

Identify the client. Cleaning on federal property or for a federal Crown corporation under a PSPC contract is federally regulated, so Canada Labour Code Part III applies.
If the work is private, identify the province where the building sits — Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000, British Columbia's Employment Standards Act, or Quebec's Act respecting labour standards — and apply that statute.
Compare the contract terms with the statute. Overtime, vacation pay and general holiday pay must meet the minimum; a term below it is void.
Check whether the schedule needs an agreement. A federal employer may apply to the Labour Program for a modified work schedule; provincial overtime averaging needs a signed written agreement, not a permit.
Keep the records. Federal employers keep hours and pay records for 36 months; Ontario employers keep payroll records for at least three years.

Bidding on PSPC tenders triggers federal jurisdiction before the first shift starts. The Canada Labour Code applies to the work, not to the address of the cleaning company's office. The labour clauses in a PSPC janitorial contract must meet Part III minimums for overtime, vacation pay, general holiday pay and record keeping, and any contract term below those minimums is void.

What to submit

During a labour standards inspection, an officer can ask for time sheets, payroll records, and written overtime or averaging agreements. Ontario requires an employer to keep payroll records for at least three years. A federal contractor must keep records of hours and pay for 36 months after the work is done.

Inspection Records and Submissions

Time sheets and payroll records
Written overtime or averaging agreements
Ontariokeep payroll records 3 years
Federalkeep hours and pay 36 months
PSPC tenderincorporation, insurance, bid bond
Modified work scheduleaffected employees and hours

A PSPC tender package asks for proof of incorporation, insurance, and a bid bond. A modified work schedule application must state the affected employees and the proposed hours. You do not submit a permit application for ordinary overtime or statutory holiday pay.

The Ontario employment standards law requires overtime averaging agreements to be in writing before the work happens. The Canada Labour Code requires employers to post information about Part III rights where cleaners can see it. Federal records must show hours worked, the wage rate, and the earnings of each cleaner.

Missing these documents can turn a routine inspection into an order to produce records.

How Canadian cleaning firms price contracts under provincial employment standards matters because overtime liability is calculated before the bid, not after.

How long approval takes

A provincial overtime averaging agreement takes effect the day both parties sign it. It does not wait for government approval. A federal modified work schedule application usually gets a response within a few weeks. A labour standards complaint can take months from inspection to order. That delay does not stop the pay obligation from the date the underpayment happened.

Approval and Complaint Timelines

Day of signing
Provincial overtime averaging agreement takes effect
A few weeks
Federal modified work schedule response
Months
Labour standards complaint from inspection to order
Date of underpayment
Pay obligation continues despite delay

The Workers' compensation premiums compared for those provinces affect what a building requests before the contract starts.

What happens if you skip it

If an Ontario cleaning company treats a night cleaner as an independent contractor, it may owe overtime and holiday pay. An employment standards officer can issue a compliance order to pay unpaid wages plus an administrative fee. The order can be filed in court. On federal work, PSPC's Contract Security Program screens companies and personnel before granting the reliability status, secret or top secret clearance a contract requires, and an unpaid order can count against a contractor at that review. Directors can be held personally liable for unpaid wages.

Misclassification Consequences

Does the company treat a night cleaner as an independent contractor?

Yes

May owe overtime and holiday pay; compliance order possible

No misclassification liability under this section

Quebec applies its own Act respecting labour standards, enforced by the CNESST: overtime starts after 40 hours a week with no daily trigger, and general holiday pay follows provincial rules rather than the federal ones. The contract risks Montreal cleaners face include different holiday pay calculations and mandatory French in written contracts under the Charter of the French Language.

Example: a PSPC office tower in Ottawa

A cleaning company wins a federal tender for an office tower in downtown Ottawa. The contract is federally regulated. Cleaners work 9 hours on a Tuesday. The employer must pay 1 hour of overtime under the Canada Labour Code, even if the contract says weekly overtime only. The employer keeps time sheets for 36 months and submits them during a labour standards inspection. If the employer fails to pay, the inspector issues a compliance order.