My Employer Isn't Paying My Wages

As an employee, you are entitled to be paid for all of the hours that you worked, within a short period after completing the work. If you have worked overtime, you may be entitled to additional pay for the excess hours. You may also be entitled to pay for statutory holidays.

If you can't resolve a problem relating to unpaid wages directly with your employer, you generally have two options for taking action:

• sue directly in Small Claims Court or the Supreme Court, or
• make a claim through either the provincial or federal labour ministries.

It is important to get legal advice about both these options. This is because once you have begun one of these processes, you may be legally prevented from switching to or using the other process.

This section will focus on how to make a claim through the labour ministries. Which ministry to make your claim through will depend on whether your employer is provincially regulated or federally regulated. Most employers are provincially regulated, but the following are federally regulated:

• federal government and federal Crown corporations,
• banks,
• Indian bands and tribal councils, and
• inter-provincial or international railways, airlines and transportation companies.

If you belong to a union, your rights generally depend on the collective agreement, and they are normally enforced by asking the union to pursue a grievance on your behalf. Talk to your shop steward or other union representative about any unpaid wages as soon as possible.

If your employer is provincially regulated

First steps

1. Contact your employer and see if you can resolve the problem directly.
2. Obtain a "Complaint Process Self-Help Kit" from the Employment Standards Branch of BC as soon as possible. The self-help kit is designed to help employees and employers solve workplace disputes quickly and fairly. It includes a Request for Payment form and a letter from the Employment Standards Branch for you to give to your employer.
3. Your employer has 15 days to respond to your Request for Payment. If he or she does not, or the matter is not resolved, you can file a complaint form with the Employment Standards Branch. Note that you have six months to file a complaint from the time the wages were not paid or your employment ended. If you are within 30 days of the end of the six-month period, you should file your complaint with the Employment Standards Branch and then use the self-help kit to try and resolve the problem.

What happens next

On receiving your complaint, the Employment Standards Branch staff will investigate and offer to resolve your claim through mediation. If mediation does not work, it will be sent to a hearing before an adjudicator, who will hear from both sides and then make a decision called a determination.

If you are not satisfied with the determination of the adjudicator, you can appeal to the Employment Standards Tribunal or ask the tribunal for a reconsideration.

If your employer is federally regulated

First steps

1. Contact your employer and see if you can resolve the problem directly.
2. If your employer has not responded within 10 days, obtain a "Payment Claim Kit" from Employment Standards (Canada) of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). The kit contains a labour standards pamphlet and a Payment Claim letter to your employer. Read the pamphlet and complete and send the Payment Claim letter to your employer.

To find out if your employer is federally regulated, call the Labour Program of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) at 1-800-641-4049.

What happens next

Your employer has 10 days to respond to your Payment Claim. If he or she does not, or the matter is not resolved, you can file a Complaint Registration Form, following the instructions in the Payment Claim Kit.

HRSDC will investigate your complaint and attempt to resolve it with you and your employer.

If the complaint can't be resolved, it will be sent to an independent adjudicator appointed by HRSDC, who will hear from both sides and then make a decision called a determination.

If you are not satisfied with the determination, you can appeal it to the Minister of Labour within 15 days of receiving the determination. The Minister will then appoint a referee to make a formal decision.

Where to get help

See the Resource List for a list of helpful resources. Your best bets are:

• Employment Standards Branch of BC if your employer is provincially regulated, and Employment Standards (Canada) if your employer is federally regulated.
• PovNet.
• Access Pro Bono, Lawyer Referral Service, and private bar lawyers.
• The Clicklaw common question "My employer isn't paying my wages" for further resources.

Before meeting with a lawyer or advocate, complete the form Preparing for Your Interview included in this Guide. Make sure you bring copies of all documents relating to your case.

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Jim Sayre, February 2013.

Legal Help for British Columbians © Cliff Thorstenson and Courthouse Libraries BC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.

(1) The assertion of a legal right to an order or to a thing; (2) the remedy or relief sought by a party to a court proceeding.

In law, (1) the federal and provincial governments and their departments and agencies, or (2) lawyers employed by the federal and provincial governments to prosecute criminal offences.

In contract law, the expression, either orally or in writing, of a willingness to be bound by a proposed agreement, contract, or settlement. See "offer to settle."

A dispute resolution process in which a specially-trained neutral person facilitates discussions between the parties to a legal dispute and helps them reach a compromise settling the dispute. See "alternative dispute resolution" and "family law mediator."

In law, any proceeding before a judicial official to determine questions of law and questions of fact, including the hearing of an application and the hearing of a trial. See "decision."

In law, (1) a judge's conclusions after hearing argument and considering the evidence presented at a trial or an application, (2) a judgment, or (3) the judge's reasons. A judge's written or oral decision will include the judge's conclusions about the relief or remedies claimed as well as their findings of fact and conclusions of law. A written decision is called the judge’s "reasons for judgment." See "common law," "conclusions of law" and "findings of fact."

An application to a higher court for a review of the correctness of a decision of a lower court. A decision of a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia can be appealed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. A decision of a judge of the Supreme Court can be appealed to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia. See "appellant" and "respondent."

A person licensed to practice law in a particular jurisdiction by that jurisdiction's law society. See "barrister and solicitor."

(1) A lawyer or a person other than a lawyer who helps clients with legal issues, or (2) to argue a position on behalf of someone.

(1) In law, a court proceeding; a lawsuit; an action; a cause of action; a claim. (2) A historic decision of the court; case law. See "action," "case law, " "court proceeding," and "precedent."