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Our casual employee was informed 2 days in advance of a cancelled shift. Was that ample notice, and should we pay the employee for the shift regardless of the cancellation?
Understanding the amount of notice you must provide for your employees and how that varies for different employment contracts and terms is important when navigating shift cancellations, changes, and compensation.
QUESTION
We have a casual employee in BC, who only attends the office for scheduled appointments. A client cancelled the appointment and the employee was informed 2 days in advance of the cancelled shift/appointment. What is the minimum time requirement to inform casual employees of a cancelled shift and are we responsible for paying the employee for the cancelled shift?
ANSWER
Two days is ample notice for a casual employee, especially considering the minimum time requirement usually falls between a few hours to one day for most jurisdictions.
EXPLANATION
If this worker was a permanent full-time employee, you would need to give them at least 48 hours notice of their shift cancellation or else you would have to pay them for 3 hours of their scheduled shift.
Since you gave them fair warning about the cancelled appointment and they are hired as a casual employee, you are not required to pay them for the shift unless there is something written in their contract that would expressly go against that policy. This applies to all jurisdictions in Canada.
