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Act respecting labour standards Chapter III.1 - Contributions (Section 39.0.1 to 39.0.6)

Chapter III.1 - Contributions (Section 39.0.1 to 39.0.6)

Division I - Interpretation (Section 39.0.1)

Section 39.0.1

Interpretation

In this chapter, unless the context indicates otherwise,
"employer subject to contribution": means any person who pays a remuneration subject to contribution, except the following entities:

  1. metropolitan communities;
  2. municipalities;
  3. public transit authorities mentioned in section 1 of the Act respecting public transit authorities (chapter S-30-01);
    1. a school services centre;
  4. school boards;
  5. the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l’Île de Montréal;
  6. fabriques;
  7. corporations of trustees for the erection of churches;
  8. charitable institutions or bodies whose object is to assist, gratuitously and directly, natural persons in need;
  9. religious institutions;
  10. educational institutions;
  11. day care centres;
  12. the Commission de la construction du Québec;
  13. parity committees constituted under the Act respecting collective agreement decrees (chapter D-2);
  14. the Government and its departments and the bodies and persons whose personnel must, by law, be appointed in accordance with the Public Service Act (chapter F-3.1.1) or the capital stock of which belongs entirely to the Government;
  15. any body established by an Act of the National Assembly or by a decision of the Government, the Conseil du trésor or a minister and whose operating appropriations are taken out of the consolidated revenue fund, appear in whole or in part in the expenditure budget submitted to the National Assembly or are wholly financed by way of a transfer from one of the government departments;
    1. the Agence du revenu du Québec;
  16. the Lieutenant-Governor, the National Assembly and any person appointed by the National Assembly to an office which is under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly;
    Interpretation

    The bodies listed in this section are subject to the other provisions of the Act. Indeed, the Court of Appeal is of the opinion that if the legislator specifically excluded such "bodies" from the application of the provisions on contributions, it was because they were deemed subject to the other provisions of the Act.

"remuneration" means, if the employee is an employee within the meaning of section 1 of the Taxation Act (chapter I-3), the employee's base wages, within the meaning of section 1159.1 of that Act, and, if the employee is not such an employee, the employee's wages. The expression also includes amounts paid as indemnity in lieu of notice and upon termination of a contract of employment;

"remuneration subject to contribution" means remuneration paid to an employee except

  1. remuneration paid to an employee under the Act respecting labour relations, vocational training and manpower management in the construction industry (chapter R-20);
  2. remuneration paid to a domestic;
    1. remuneration paid to an employee whose exclusive duty is to take care of or provide care to a child or to a sick, handicapped or aged person, in that person’s dwelling, including, where so required, the performance of domestic duties that are directly related to the immediate needs of that person, unless the work serves to procure profit to the employer;
      Interpretation

      The employee referred to in subparagraph 2.1) of this definition is one:

      1. who takes care of or provides care to the person in that person’s dwelling;
      2. who performs this work on an exclusive basis; and
      3. whose employer does not seek to make a profit by means of this work.
         

      These are the first three conditions of paragraph 2) of section 3 ALS, which are explained in the interpretation of this section.

  3. remuneration paid by an employer governed by a decree in respect of remuneration subject to contribution by a parity committee;
  4. remuneration paid by an institution, a regional council or a foster family respectively referred to in subparagraphs a, f and o of the first paragraph of section 1 of the Act respecting health services and social services for Cree Native persons (chapter S-5), proportionately to the amounts of money they receive under that Act;
  5. remuneration paid by an institution, an agency or a family-type resource referred to in the Act respecting health services and social services (chapter S-4.2), proportionately to the amounts of money they receive under that Act;
  6. 50 % of the remuneration earned by an employee with the help of a truck, tractor, loader, skidder or other heavy equipment of the same nature, furnished by the employee and at his own expense;
  7. the amount by which the total remuneration paid to an employee for the year or the amount determined under paragraph 6 where it applies in respect of the employee exceeds an amount equal to the Maximum Yearly Insurable Earnings determined for the year under section 66 of the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (chapter A-3.001);
  8. remuneration paid to an employee wholly exempt from the application of this Act under section 3.

Rules applicable

For the purposes of this chapter, the following rules apply:

  1. any reference in this chapter to wages, remuneration or remuneration subject to contribution that an employer pays or has paid is a reference to wages, remuneration or remuneration subject to contribution that the employer pays, allocates, grants or awards or has paid, allocated, granted or awarded;
  2. an employee is deemed to work in Québec when the establishment of the employer where the employee reports for work is situated in Québec or, if the employee is not required to report for work at an establishment of his employer, when the establishment of the employer from which he receives his remuneration is situated in Québec. The word "establishment" includes an establishment within the meaning of Chapter III of Title II of Book I of Part I of the Taxation Act;
  3. an employee who reports for work at an establishment of his employer,
    1. in respect of remuneration subject to contribution that is not described in subparagraph b, means an employee who reports for work at that establishment for his regular pay period to which the remuneration subject to contribution relates; and
    2. in respect of remuneration subject to contribution that is paid as a premium, an increase with retroactive effect or a vacation pay, that is paid to a trustee or custodian in respect of the employee or that does not relate to a regular pay period of the employee, means an employee who ordinarily reports for work at that establishment;
  4. where, during a regular pay period of an employee, the employee reports for work at an establishment of his employer situated in Québec and at an establishment of his employer situated outside Québec, the employee is deemed for that period, in respect of remuneration subject to contribution that is not described in subparagraph b of subparagraph 3,
    1. except where subparagraph b applies, to report for work only at the establisment situated in Québec;
    2. to report for work only at the establishment situated outside Québec where, during that period, he reports for work mainly at such an establishment of his employer;
  5. where an employee ordinarily reports for work at an establishment of his employer situated in Québec and at an establishment of his employer situated outside Québec, the employee is deemed, in respect of remuneration subject to contribution described in subparagraph b of subparagraph 3, to ordinarily report for work only at the establishment situated in Québec;
  6. where an employee is not required to report for work at an establishment of his employer and where his remuneration is not paid from such an establishment situated in Québec, that employee is deemed to report for work at an establishment of his employer situated in Québec for a pay period if, in reference to the place where he mainly reports for work, the place where he mainly performs his duties, of the employee's main place of residence, the establishment from where the employee is supervised, the nature of the duties performed by the employee or any other similar criterion, it may reasonably be considered that the employee for that pay period is an employee of that establishment;
  7. where an employee of an establishment, situated elsewhere than in Québec, of an employer supplies a service in Québec to another employer that is not the employer of the employee, or for the benefit of such other employer, an amount that may reasonably be considered to be the remuneration earned by the employee to supply the service is deemed to be remuneration paid by the other employer, in the pay period during which the remuneration is paid to the employee, to an employee of the other employer who reports for work at an establishement of that other employer situated in Québec where

    1. at the time the service is supplied, the other employer has an establishment situated in Québec;

    2. the service supplied by the employee

        1. is performed by the employee in the ordinary performance of his duties with his employer;

        2. is supplied to or for the benefit of the other employer in the course of regular and ongoing activities of an enterprise carried on by that other employer;

        3. is in the nature of the services supplied by employees of employers carrying on the same type of enterprise as the enterprise referred to in subparagraph ii;

    3. the amount is not otherwise included in remuneration subject to contribution paid by the other employer that is determined for the purposes of this chapter;

  8. subparagraph 7 does not apply in respect of a pay period of any other employer referred to therein if the Revenu Québec is of the opinion that a reduction in the contribution payable under this chapter by the employers referred to in that subparagraph 7 is not one of the objectives or anticipated results arising from the making or maintaining in force of
    1. the agreement pursuant to which the service is supplied by the employee referred to in that subparagraph 7 to or for the benefit of the other employer; or
    2. any other agreement affecting the amount of remuneration subject to contribution paid by the other employer in the pay period for the purposes of this chapter and where the Minister of Revenue considers the agreement to be related to the agreement for the supply of services referred to in subparagraph a.

1994, c., 46, s. 6.; 1995, c. 63, s. 280; 1996, c. 2, s. 744; 1997, c. 85, s. 362; 1999, c. 4. s. 196; 2000, c. 8, s. 239, s. 242; D. 1027-2000; 2000, c. 56, s. 218; 2002, c. 80, s. 7; 2002, c. 9, s. 144; 2002, c. 75, s.33; 2003, c. 2, s. 303; 2005, c. 38, s. 347; 2005, c. 32, s. 308; 2010, c. 31, s. 148; 2017, c. 29, s. 225; L.Q. 2020, c. 1, s. 290.