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Regulations adopted under the Act respecting labour standards Regulation respecting labour standards (S.Q., 1979, c. 45, s. 88, 89 and 91; after revision : R.S.Q., c. N-1.1)

Regulation respecting labour standards (S.Q., 1979, c. 45, s. 88, 89 and 91; after revision : R.S.Q., c. N-1.1)

Standard workweek (Section 8 to 13)

Section 9

The standard workweek of the watchman who guards a property for an enterprise supplying a surveillance service is 44 hours.

The standard workweek for any other watchman is 60 hours.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. N-1.1, r. 3, s. 9.

Interpretation

Since the Act does not contain a definition of the notion of “watchman”, it is necessary to refer to the common meaning of the term, which is : “person who is in charge of guarding”. The verb “guard” is synonymous with “watching over”, “protecting” or “safeguarding”.

A watchman is there to watch over things, without having the obligation to make a significant intervention during his work. Indeed, it is important to distinguish the work of an employee who is there to ensure the passive supervision of the premises and whose sole responsibility is to notify a person in charge in the event of an abnormal situation from that of an employee who himself has to take the corrective actions or to make the necessary repairs, for example on a production site when he ascertains an abnormal reading on a monitor or a dial. In the second case, the employee does not fall under the definition of a “watchman”.