A CIBC bank teller is taking on one of the biggest financial institutions in Canada as the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that alleges CIBC fails to pay overtime to customer service staff.

The lawsuit, filed today in Ontario Superior Court, alleges CIBC non-management employees are assigned heavy workloads that cannot be completed within standard working hours, and that, at least in the bank teller’s, she was told not to claim any of it as overtime.

The claim is seeking $500 million in damages on behalf of all the company’s approximately 10,000 customer service staff.

What is the law regarding overtime:

• Banks are federally incorporated companies and are regulated by the Canada Labour Code.
• The Code states that federally incorporated businesses may not require or permit non management employees to work beyond eight hours per day or 40 hours per week without paying overtime.
• In Ontario, non federal companies (pretty much any organization that is not a bank, telecommunication company, airline etc) are regulated by the Ontario Employment Standards Act.
• The Act allows employers and employees to agree, in writing, to work overtime.  In the absence of such an agreement, employers cannot require employees to work more than 48 hours in a week and in any case, must pay employees overtime for work performed, in excess of 44 hours in a week.

See news coverage of this story in the

National Post

CTV.ca

CBC.ca

The Toronto Star

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