City of Calgary Employee Clocks in with $95K of Overtime Pay

Many people were shocked to learn of a City of Calgary employee who recently claimed close to $95,000 in overtime between the months of June and September 2020. The individual, who is a manager in the office of the councillors, clocked in 714 hours of overtime during this period, an average of at least 42 hours a week on top of the 44 hours of regular time she worked.

The manager, who was employed in the office of the city councillors, recorded the overtime after she terminated three other staff members who presumably were not immediately replaced.

CBC News states that this compensation was approved by city councillor Ray Jones, who says he did not appreciate the extent of the overtime that the manager would claim.

Overtime pay for employees in Alberta

While the overtime was apparently approved in this case, it is important to remember that employers owe non-unionized employees in Alberta for overtime hours worked, even if the work is not pre-approved.

Most workers are entitled to overtime pay at the rate of 1.5 times their hourly wage, whether they are salaried or paid hourly.

Managers and Overtime

The wrinkle in this case is that the employee was a manager. Managers and supervisors are not entitled to overtime pay under Alberta’s Employment Standards Regulation, made pursuant to the Employment Standards Code (Code).

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There is one exception: the duties performed must not be similar to the duties performed by non-supervisory and non-managerial employees, other than in an incidental manner.

Example

An example may help illustrate the point. Amber is a manager at a coffee shop and spends 25% of her time preparing schedules, conducting interviews, and ordering supplies. The remainder of her time is spent on cash serving customers. In such a scenario, Amber is not a manager and is entitled to overtime pay because 75% of her time is spent doing work that is done by non-managers at the coffee shop. These duties are not incidental to her role as a manager.

Is the Calgary city councillor manager owed overtime?

In the case of the Calgary councillors office manager it is easy to see that the manager has to do her own work as well as the work of three other recently-terminated employees. She would spend more than an incidental amount of time performing non-management duties. In such a case, she may be entitled to overtime under the Code. In this case, however, it may be that the manager’s employment contract permitted overtime pay, which was not required, in which case it would not matter whether she was entitled to it under the Code.

Lessons for Employers

Overtime must be paid

It is important to understand that overtime does not need to be approved; so long as it is permitted, it will have to be paid. This is true whether the employee is hourly or salaried.

Set clear policy

Employers should have a clear overtime policy which states that employees who do not get their overtime approved may face progressive discipline. Equally important is a policy which provides that those who approve unnecessary overtime may also face discipline.

Lessons for Employees

Overtime for managers

Employees should be aware that being termed a manager or a supervisor does not automatically mean that they are not entitled to overtime pay. What matters is whether the substance of their duties was truly managerial or supervisory in nature.