Most young workers in Alberta learn their rights after something has already gone wrong. This is a plain summary of what Alberta’s rules actually require around hours, breaks, overtime, deductions and the employment of people under 18. Alberta differs from Ontario and British Columbia in several places, so do not assume a rule you read about elsewhere applies here.
Minimum wage and the student rate
Alberta’s general minimum wage is $15.00 an hour and has not moved since 2018. That is now the lowest general rate in the country.
There is also a separate job-creation student wage of $13.00 an hour for employees under 18. It applies to the first 28 hours a week while school is in session, and to all regular hours during school breaks. Hours beyond 28 in a school week are paid at the general minimum wage.
Breaks
Alberta ties breaks to shift length, not to a fixed point in the shift.
- A shift of 5 hours or less carries no break entitlement.
- A shift of more than 5 hours and up to 10 hours: at least one 30-minute break.
- A shift of more than 10 hours: at least two 30-minute breaks.
By agreement, a 30-minute break can be split into two 15-minute periods. Breaks can be unpaid, but if your employer restricts what you can do during the break, for instance by requiring you to stay on the premises or stay available, the break must be paid.
Hours, days off and shift changes
You may work a maximum of 12 hours in a day, with narrow exceptions for accidents, urgent work and unforeseeable circumstances, or where a variance has been granted.
You are entitled to at least one day of rest each work week. That rest can be grouped: two consecutive days in two weeks, three in three weeks, and so on. After 24 consecutive workdays you must get at least four consecutive days off.
If your employer changes your shift, they must give at least 24 hours written notice and at least 8 hours of rest between the shifts. That second part matters if you are ever asked to close and then open the next morning.
The three-hour rule
If you are required to report to work, you must be paid for at least 3 hours at minimum wage, even if you are sent home after 20 minutes. The exception is where you asked for the short shift yourself.
Note the wording. Alberta’s floor is three hours at minimum wage, not three hours at your own rate, which is not how every province writes it.
Overtime
Alberta uses the 8/44 rule. Overtime is all hours worked over 8 in a day or over 44 in a week, whichever produces the greater number of overtime hours. You do not add the two together.
The overtime rate is at least 1.5 times your regular wage. An employer can instead offer banked time off under a written overtime agreement, at one hour off for each overtime hour worked, and the banked time generally has to be used within six months. Any banked overtime still outstanding when you leave the job must be paid out at 1.5 times.
Managers, supervisors, certain licensed professionals and commissioned salespeople are among the groups exempt from overtime.
Deductions from your pay
This is where young workers get taken advantage of most often, and Alberta’s rules on deductions from earnings are clear.
Your employer cannot deduct for uniforms. Full stop. They cannot deduct for faulty work, which the province defines broadly as any act or omission by an employee resulting in a loss to the employer.
They cannot deduct for cash shortages or lost property if anyone else had access to the cash or property. Even where you alone had access, they need your written authorization and you need to have counted your own float and accounted for your own sales. In practice this means a dine-and-dash at a restaurant, a gas-and-dash at a service station and breakage behind a bar are all things your employer is not allowed to take out of your wages.
Permitted deductions are the ones you would expect: taxes, CPP, EI, court-ordered garnishees, correction of overpayments within six months, and amounts you authorized in writing. There are set maximums for employer-provided meals and lodging.
Vacation and general holidays
Vacation entitlement begins after one year: two weeks of vacation and 4% vacation pay from one to four years of service, rising to three weeks and 6% at five years. This is different from Ontario, where vacation pay accrues from the first cheque.
Alberta has nine general holidays. To qualify for general holiday pay you must have worked for the same employer for at least 30 workdays in the 12 months before the holiday. Holiday pay is based on your average daily wage rather than a flat percentage.
If you are under 18
Alberta sets different rules by age under its youth employment laws. Workers aged 15 to 17 can do most kinds of work without a permit, but 15-year-olds cannot work during regular school hours unless they are in an off-campus education program. In retail and hospitality, 15- to 17-year-olds can work between 9pm and midnight only with adult supervision, and cannot work between 12:01am and 6am at all. In other industries those overnight hours require both parental consent and supervision.
Adolescents aged 13 and 14 are limited to a defined list of jobs, cannot work between 9pm and 6am, cannot work during school hours, and are capped at two hours on a school day and eight on a non-school day. Parental consent is required.
If something is wrong
Raise it with your manager first, in writing where you can, because a lot of this is genuinely accidental. If that does not work, Alberta Employment Standards takes complaints directly and you do not need a lawyer.
Knowing this before you start is easier than fixing it afterwards. If you are still looking, entry-level and part-time postings on Youth Workforce are all early-career by design, and a free candidate profile takes a few minutes. Employers browsing our job seeker section are specifically looking for people with five years of experience or less.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by province.
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