Expanding into Canada: Key Employment Considerations for Federally Regulated Industries

For international clients seeking to expand into Canada, a thorough understanding of Canadian employment law is essential for developing effective, employer-friendly employment agreements and policies to manage Canadian employees.

Each jurisdiction in Canada sets out minimum standards for employers to follow, which could either be the respective provincial legislation in the province from which the employee performs services for provincially regulated employers or federal legislation respecting federally regulated employers. While an employer and employee may agree to benefits in excess of the minimum requirements, they cannot “contract out” of, or offer less than, the applicable minimum employment standards.

The vast majority of industries in Canada are provincially regulated. We have previously prepared a similar article for provincially regulated employers, which is available here. The following is an overview of the requirements for employers in Canadian federally regulated industries, which include, but are not limited to, cross-border transportation, banks, telecommunications, radio and television broadcasting and public services. A full list of federally regulated employers can be found here.

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