Federal (Canada Labour Code) restaurant labor laws

Federal (Canada Labour Code): overtime after 40h a week, $18.15 minimum wage, 30-min meal break after 5h, 8h rest between shifts, night limits for minors.

The figures ShiftNivo schedules against in Federal (Canada Labour Code), read from the source linked at the bottom of this page.

Updated September 21, 2026

Start with your state's or province's rules →No credit card. Free during early access.

Overtime

Daily: No separate rule*
Weekly: after 40h · 1.5×
Double time: No separate rule*

Rest between shifts: 8h
Eating period: 30 min after 5h
Minimum wage: $18.15since 2026-04-01
Default time zone: America/Toronto

* “No separate rule” means the engine does not enforce one here. That is not the same as saying the jurisdiction has none.

Public holidays · 10

Boxing DayDecember 26premium pay
Canada DayJuly 1premium pay
Christmas DayDecember 25premium pay
Good Friday2 days before Easterpremium pay
Labour Dayfirst Monday in Septemberpremium pay
New Year's DayJanuary 1premium pay
Remembrance DayNovember 11premium pay
Thanksgivingsecond Monday in Octoberpremium pay
National Day for Truth and ReconciliationSeptember 30premium pay
Victoria DayMonday on or before May 24premium pay

Youth hours

The bands the product checks for Federal (Canada Labour Code), read from the jurisdiction's own source. Permits, supervision and exemptions sit underneath every band, and each one says what is not checked.

Under 17
Not between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Federal rules cover federally regulated industries — banks, airlines, interprovincial transport. A restaurant is provincially regulated. Under 17 may be employed only if no longer required to attend school.

Source: canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/laws-regulations/labour.html

Minors →

What ShiftNivo checks for you here

Overtime after 40 hours in a week, priced as you build, with a warning four hours before anyone crosses it.
Fewer than 8 hours of rest between two shifts.
A shift longer than 5 hours without its 30-minute eating period.
Workers under 18: the minimum age, the hours in a day and in a week, and the evening limit, read from a birth date and marked as errors, not warnings.
10 public holidays, each flagged the week before it arrives and priced at its premium, split at midnight.
Everywhere: double bookings, approved time off, and shifts outside the hours someone said they can work.

Start with your state's or province's rules →

All 66 jurisdictions →

This is reference data, not legal advice.

Every figure on this page was read from the source linked beside it and carries the date it took effect. Minimum wages are indexed once or twice a year in most jurisdictions — usually on 1 April or 1 October — so this table is reviewed on a schedule rather than when somebody notices.

Employment standards change, and a restaurant's obligations depend on facts no software can see: an exemption, a collective agreement, a municipal ordinance, the particular job somebody does. Some rules are deliberately not modeled, and where that is true this page says which.

Treat these figures as a starting point. Confirm them against the source before relying on them for pay, and take advice about your own situation.

Found something wrong? Corrections get fixed first. hello@shiftnivo.com

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