Overtime Suits Against Banks Increasing in Canada

David Doorey (York) writes to tell us about:

a story about a trend here in Canada whereby employees of the major chartered banks are suing their employers for unpaid overtime in class action suits. This one targets the Bank of Nova Scotia. It is the second such action that has been filed, the first one was against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The idea is that the banks set unreasonable work assignments that require employees to work overtime, and then refuse to pay for that overtime. The employees of the major chartered banks in Canada are mostly non-union.

It is interesting to note that these overtime suits seem somewhat different from their American counterparts. Whereas the issue in the United States is whether employees have been classified correctly as exempt or non-exempt from overtime, the issue in Canada is whether these banks have a de facto overtime requirement but yet refuse to pay for those overtime hours.

PS