Guide
Ontario Overtime Rules: The 44-Hour Week Explained
In Ontario, most employees earn overtime after 44 hours in a work week, not 40. Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the regular rate. There is no daily overtime: a 12-hour shift is not overtime by itself if the week stays at or under 44 hours. Overtime can also be averaged over several weeks, or taken as paid time off, but only with a written agreement.
The basic rule
Under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), an employer must pay at least 1½ times the employee's regular rate for each hour worked over 44 in a work week. The work week is a recurring seven-day period that the employer sets. Each week stands on its own unless there is an averaging agreement.
overtime pay = (hours worked − 44) × regular rate × 1.5
Worked example
An employee earning $20.00 an hour works 50 hours in one week:
- Regular: 44 × $20.00 = $880.00
- Overtime: 6 × $30.00 = $180.00
- Gross pay: $1,060.00
The same week under the US federal 40-hour rule would have 10 overtime hours, not 6, and in the UK there's no legal overtime rate at all (see UK overtime pay rules). That is why our calculators ask which rule applies instead of assuming 40.
Long days don't create overtime
Ontario has no daily overtime threshold. Four 11-hour shifts make 44 hours, so no overtime is owed, even though every shift ran past 8 hours. Daily hours are still limited (see below), but the limit controls how long you can be scheduled, not how you're paid.
Averaging agreements
An employer and employee can agree to average hours over a period of two, three or four weeks. Overtime is then owed only when the average weekly hours across the period exceed 44. The ESA sets conditions:
- The agreement must be in writing or electronic, and both sides must agree to it.
- It must have an expiry date. For employees not covered by a union, the maximum length is two years.
- It can't be cancelled before it expires unless both sides agree.
Example. Under a two-week averaging agreement, an employee works 50 hours in week one and 36 in week two. That is 86 hours over two weeks, an average of 43 a week, so no overtime is owed. Without the agreement, week one would include 6 overtime hours.
If the same employee worked 50 and 42 hours, the total of 92 averages 46 a week, so overtime is owed on 92 − (44 × 2) = 4 hours.
Time off instead of overtime pay
Overtime can be "banked" as paid time off if the employer and employee agree in writing or electronically. The ESA requires 1½ hours of paid time off for each overtime hour, the same ratio as the pay. The time off must be taken within three months of the work week in which the overtime was earned, or within 12 months if the employee agrees.
In the 50-hour example above, the 6 overtime hours become 9 hours of paid time off, not 6. Banked overtime is separate from vacation; for how vacation time and pay build up, see how to calculate PTO accrual.
How many hours you can be asked to work
Separate ESA rules limit hours of work, whatever the pay:
- Daily: no more than 8 hours, or the employer's established regular workday if longer, unless the employee agrees in writing or electronically.
- Weekly: no more than 48 hours, unless the employee agrees in writing or electronically.
- Rest: at least 11 consecutive hours off each day and 8 hours off between shifts (some exceptions apply), plus 24 consecutive hours off each work week or 48 in every two weeks.
- Meals: a 30-minute eating period after every 5 hours of work, which can be split into two breaks if both sides agree. See are breaks paid?
Agreeing to work more than 48 hours does not waive overtime pay. Hours over 44 are still overtime.
Who is not entitled to overtime
Managers and supervisors are not entitled to overtime if their work is managerial or supervisory, even if they sometimes do other tasks. Some jobs and industries have their own thresholds or exemptions under the ESA regulations, and some workers are covered by federal law instead of the ESA (for example banks, airlines and interprovincial trucking, where the federal threshold is 40 hours). A salary doesn't remove overtime rights in Ontario on its own; what matters is the job.
Calculating an Ontario overtime week
- Add up the hours worked in the work week (or across the averaging period).
- Subtract 44 (or 44 × the number of weeks being averaged).
- Multiply any remaining hours by 1.5 × your regular rate, or by 1.5 to get banked hours.
The Overtime Calculator has an Ontario option that applies the 44-hour threshold, and the Time Card Calculator does the same from daily start and end times. For averaging, choose the custom rule in the Overtime Calculator, enter the total hours for the whole period, and set the threshold to 44 × the number of weeks (88 for two weeks, 132 for three, 176 for four).