Scheduling restaurant shifts in Ontario: eating periods, rest between shifts and the three-hour rule

The most common employment standards mistake in a restaurant is not underpaying anyone. It is a schedule that looks efficient on paper and breaks a rule on a busy night: a closer who opens the next morning, a lunch cook sent home after an hour. The Ontario Ministry of Labour sets these rules in the Employment Standards Act.

What are the limits on daily and weekly hours?

Most employees can be required to work a maximum of eight hours in a day, or the established regular workday if it is longer, and 48 hours in a week. To go beyond them you need an electronic or written agreement, and that agreement does not remove the duty to pay overtime. Overtime pay is due for hours beyond 44 in a week. An employee can generally cancel an excess-hours agreement with two weeks' notice, in writing or electronically.

When does a worker get a meal break?

No employee may work more than five hours in a row without a 30-minute eating period free from work. The period can be split into two within every five consecutive hours if the employer and the employee agree, as long as the two add up to at least 30 minutes. Meal breaks are unpaid unless the contract says otherwise, and they do not count toward hours of work or overtime. The Act does not require coffee breaks, but if a worker must stay at the workplace during a break, it is paid at least minimum wage.

How much rest between shifts?

• At least 11 consecutive hours off each day. This cannot be changed by agreement.
• At least eight hours off between shifts, unless the total time worked on both shifts is 13 hours or less. A written or electronic agreement can set less than eight hours, and split shifts are exempt from the eight-hour rule.
• At least 24 consecutive hours off in each work week, or 48 consecutive hours off in every two consecutive work weeks.

A cook who closes at 1 a.m. and is scheduled to open at 7 a.m. has six hours between shifts. Check the 13-hour test before you post that schedule.

What is the three-hour rule?

An employee who regularly works more than three hours a day, is required to report for work, works fewer than three hours and was available to work longer, must be paid the greater of: three hours at the regular rate, or the wages for the time actually worked plus the regular rate for the rest of the three hours. A server on 28 dollars an hour who works one hour and is sent home gets 84 dollars.

The rule does not apply to someone who leaves early because they are ill or on pre-arranged time off, or whose regular day is three hours or less. A slow night is not an exception. The manual limits the exception to fire, power failure, storms or similar causes beyond your control that stop work entirely, not circumstances that only reduce demand.

What about on-call staff?

An on-call employee who is not at the workplace is not working unless called in. Daily rest rules do not apply to an on-call employee called in during a period when they would not normally work.

When can you go beyond the limits?

Only as necessary to avoid serious interference with ordinary business operations, in emergencies, natural disasters and major equipment failures. The Ministry says rush orders and routine maintenance do not count. A Saturday rush is not an emergency.

A scheduling check

1. Is there an 11-hour gap each day?
2. Is there eight hours between shifts, or a 13-hour total?
3. Does each person have 24 hours off per week?
4. Is every shift of five hours or more built around a 30-minute break?
5. Do you cut shifts short? Price in the three-hour rule first.

For holiday pay and public holidays, see Ontario public holiday pay. For leave and pay, the next guide covers vacation pay and sick days. The pay floor is in Ontario minimum wage.

More in the Canadian guides for food businesses.