Pay for Employees Who Show Up During a Power Outage

QUESTION

1) What are the minimum hours the employer must pay the employee if the employee shows up to work during a power outage?

2) What is the minimum time allotment – minimum period for employee to wait at work /office till sent home?

— Name withheld

Alberta

ANSWER

You don’t state it but I am assuming that employees are unable to perform work at the office while the power is out. With that in mind, let’s go through your questions one at a time.

1) Under Section 11 of the Alberta Employment Standards Regulation, an employee that’s called to work (which includes showing up for his regular shift) and works less than 3 consecutive hours, he’s entitled to at least 3 hours of call-in pay at the minimum wage, (currently $10.20 in Alberta), i.e., $30.60. Exception: The employee is not entitled to call-in pay if you tell him not to show up for work and he does so anyway.

2) The Regulations don’t specify a minimum waiting period. In other words, their right to call-in pay of at least 3 hours’ minimum wage vests the moment they show up to the office for work. Of course, you can require employees to wait a certain period before sending them home. But if you do, the time they spend waiting is payable at their regular wage or 3 hours of minimum wage, whichever is higher. Example: John, who earns $16 per hour, reports to work during a power outage and waits 2 hours at his desk before being sent home. John is entitled to $32, his actual wage rate for the time he spent rather than $30.60 as call-in pay for the day.

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I hope this helps.