Act respecting labour standards Chapter IV - Larbour standards (Section 39.1 to 97)
Chapter IV - Larbour standards (Section 39.1 to 97)
Division V - Rest periods (Section 78-79)
Section 79
Rest period
Unless otherwise provided in a collective agreement or a decree, the employer must grant to an employee a rest period of thirty minutes, without pay, for meals, for a period of five consecutive hours of work.
Remunerated period
That period shall be remunerated if the employee is not authorized to leave his work station.
1979, c. 45, s. 79.
- Interpretation
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A thirty-minute period must be granted to the employee for his meal time after five consecutive hours of work. It should be pointed out that a collective agreement or decree can have different provisions.
This period shall be paid if the employee is not authorized to leave his work station.
Leaving one’s workstation means being totally relieved of the obligation to perform his regular work during the meal period. For example, an employee, whose employer requires that he take his meals at his workstation in the event that customers might appear, must be remunerated for his meal period. This would not be the case for the person who is not allowed to leave the establishment for the meal period, due to the short duration of this period or to avoid being late. In this latter case, the employee is not at the disposal of his employer.