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IV Comparing Labour Standards Among Canadian Jurisdictions And States In The Unites States

The Standards Analyzed

Like the Canada-only comparison, the Canada-US comparison analyzed the six labour standards that are at the core of Part III: minimum wage; hours of work; vacations/holidays; termination of employment for individual employees; leave for employee illness and family matters; and group or mass termination of employment.

Minimum Wage. Table 13 presents the provisions and coding for the nominal minimum wage standard for Canada and the U.S. The coding for this standard was identical to the coding for the Canada analysis. The greatest weight (.95) was given to the level of the minimum wage, with a small weight attributed to the existence of a subminimum. An analysis of the CPI-deflated minimum wage was not done because of the absence of state-level price data for the United States; all data are for metropolitan areas.

Hours of Work. The coding for the Hours of Work index is presented in Table 14. As with the minimum wage index, the coding for the Hours of Work index for the Canada - U.S. comparison is identical to the coding for the Canada analysis. Therefore, it will not be repeated here.

Holidays and Vacations. Table 157 presents the coding for holidays and vacations. Unlike the Canada-only comparison, the holidays component of the index was divided into two subindices, the number of holidays and whether holidays were paid. This reflects differences in the relationship between holidays and the workplace in the two countries. In Canada, holidays have a link to the workplace; workplaces are generally expected to be closed on a holiday. Therefore, employees generally receive a day off even if they are not paid. In the U.S., on the other hand, holidays are simply celebratory, they have no private sector workplace meaning. A private employer may decide to disregard a holiday and require its employees to work, on sanction of discharge or any other penalty. Similarly, there is no legal obligation on an employer who closes to pay its employees. Thus, the Canada-U.S. analysis assumes pay is more important than the establishment of a holiday, because the holiday itself has no workplace meaning.

Termination of Individual Employment. Table 168 presents the provisions and coding for legislated standards governing termination of individual employment. Although most states in the United States provide some judicially-created exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine (Block, Roberts, and Clarke, 2003), the analysis was limited to legislated provisions in order to avoid the ambiguity and fact-based differences associated with an employee attempt to provide his/her termination falls within one of the exceptions.

Sick Leave and Family Matters Leave Index. Table 17 presents the comparison of standards related to sick leave and leave related to various family matters for Canada and the U.S. In order to create comparability between the two countries, the index was constructed to take into account the fact that the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the main U.S. legislation in this area, provides for leave for a range of family-related purposes. It does not subdivide the leave as is done in the Canadian jurisdictions. Therefore, the index totaled all the relevant Canadian leaves into weeks of leave, essentially reconfiguring the Canadian leaves so they would match the leave configuration as created by the FMLA. Thus, weeks of sick leave, compassionate care leave, parental leave, maternity leave, bereavement leave, and family responsibility leave in the Canadian jurisdictions were totaled. (The parental leave component did not "double count" for those jurisdictions that permitted both parents to take concurrent parental leave.) Subindices were also added for pay for leave and for the right of reassignment during pregnancy.

Group or Mass Layoff Index. Table 180 presents the comparison for advance notice for group or mass termination. This coding for the amount of notification required was adjusted by adding another category due to fact that the notice requirement in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining and Notification Act (WARN), is different than the notice requirement in the any of the Canadian jurisdictions.

Results

Minimum Wage Index. Table 19 presents the results for the minimum wage index for the United States and Canada. The federal jurisdiction ranks nineteenth of the 65 jurisdictions studied, which places it slightly above the median. On the other hand, focusing on the unadjusted index, the 65 jurisdictions generate only 30 different indices, because the minimum wage in 36 of the states in the United States is at the national minimum, $5.15 per hour, either because the state has no minimum wage or because the state minimum wage is equal to the federal minimum wage. Viewed at in this way, the Federal jurisdiction's index rank of 19 places it in the lower half of the distribution of the Canada and United States nominal minimum wage indices.

Hours of Work Index. The Canada-U.S. comparison for the hours of work index is presented in Table 20.. As with the Canada-only analysis, the Federal Jurisdiction generated a ranking of 7. It is noteworthy that the Canadian jurisdictions are on the extremes on this index. Jurisdictions without maximum hours legislation tend to be ranked low, as overtime rates, daily standards, and weekly standards are lower in some Canadian jurisdictions than in the United States.

Holidays and Vacations Index. Table 21 presents the results for the Holidays and Vacations Index for Canada and the United States. The Federal Jurisdiction ranks seventh of the 65 Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions on the holidays and vacations index. This is the same as its rank on the Canadian analysis. All of the Canadian jurisdictions rank high because they all require payment for holidays and paid vacation. No U.S. state or the national government state such a requirement.

Termination of Individual Employment Index. Table 22 presents the results for the Termination of Individual Employment Index for Canada and the United States. As in the Canada-only analysis, the Federal Jurisdiction ranks first among all 65 jurisdictions in the level of termination protection offered to individual employees. The reasons were discussed in the Canada-only analysis. The Canadian jurisdictions rank higher than all the U.S. states with the exception of Montana, the only U.S. state that has enacted a statute protecting employees from unjust dismissal.

Sick and Family Leave Index. Table 23 presents the results for the Sick and Family Leave Index. As would be expected by the coding system, the Federal Jurisdiction retains its rank as the second highest jurisdiction among the United States and Canadian jurisdictions. All of the Canadian jurisdictions rank higher than the U.S. jurisdictions. The United States only provides 12 weeks of FMLA leave, although California does provide that six of those weeks are paid

Group and Mass Termination Index. Table 24 presents the group and mass termination index for Canada and the United States. The ranking of the Federal Jurisdiction drops from second to third, behind Nova Scotia due to a small statistical artifact. The recoding associated with the United States analysis increased the value for Nova Scotia on the subindex for length of notice from 7.5 to 7.8. As the federal sector was at the maximum on that subindex, it does not change, and Nova Scotia moved above it

Table 13
Minumum Wage Index: Provisions, Weights, Subindex Values,
Canadian And United States Jurisdiction Comparison
Provision/LanguageProvision WeightSub-Index Value
Minimum Wage Level (as of December 31, 2005).95
GT $C8.25 10.00
$C8.00 - $8.24 8.00
$C7.50 - $7.74 7.00
$C7.25 - $7.49 6.00
$C7.00- $7.24 5.00
$C6.75 - $6.99 4.00
$C6.50 - $6.74 3.00
C$6.25 - $6.49 2.00
C$6.00 - $6.24 1.00
LT C$6.00 0
Subminimum Wage.05
No Subminimum 10
Subminimum For Young Workers O Full-Time Students Only 5
Subminimum For Inexperienced Workers 0

Table 14
Hours Of Work Index: Provisions, Weights, Subindex Values
Canadian And Unites States Jurisdictions Comparison
Provision/LanguageProvision WeightSub-Index Value
Daily Standard.10
8 Hours Maximum 10
No Maximum 0
Weekly Standard .10
40 Hours 10
44 Hours 10
48 Hours 3.33
No Overtime Trigger 0
Daily Maximum Hours.10
8 Hours 10
10 Hours 7.5
Regular Workday 5.0
12 Hours 2.5
No Maximum 0
Weekly Maximum Hours.10
48 Hours with Averaging 10
60 Hours with Averaging 5
No Provision 0
Overtime Rate and Hours Trigger.4
2 x reg rate after 12 hours/day and 1.5 x reg rate between std and 12 10
1.5 x Reg Rate 6.67
1.5 x Min Wage = 3.33 3.33
No Rate Specified = 0 0
Averaging Permitted .05
No 10
Yes with Permission Of Government Agency/ Labour Standards Board/ Commission Normes Du Travail 5
Yes 0
Required Rest Periods .05
32 Hours/Week 10
8 hrs in 24 and 24 Hours/wk 8.33
24 Hours/wk. 6.67
2 Days/wk 5.00
1 Day/wk. 3.33
1 Day/wk average 1.67
No provision 0
Compensatory Time Off/Banking of Hours in Lieu of Overtime .05
Only at Request of Employee 10
3 Month Limit With 1.5 Pay 7.5
12 Month Limit With 1.5 Pay 5
No provision 2.5
3 Month Limit With Straight Time Pay 0
Right to Refuse Overtime.05
General Right to Refuse Except in Emergency 10
Right to Refuse Overtime After a Specified Number of Hours Worked 6.67
Right to Refuse Overtime only for Just Cause 3.33
No Right to Refuse Overtime 0
Meal Breaks Required.05
One Hour Every 5 Hours 10
One-Half Hour Every 5 Hours 5
No Provision 0

Table 15
Holydays And Vacations Index: Provisions, Weights, Subindex Values, Canadian And United States Jurisdiction Comparison
Provision/LanguageProvision WeightSub-Index Value
Holidays .11
13+ Days 10
12-12.9 Days 8.9
11-11.9 Days 7.8
10-10.9 Days 6.7
9-9.9 Days 5.6
8-8.9 Days 4.4
7-7.9 Days 3.3
6-6.9 Days 2.2
5 - 5.9 Days 1.1
LT 5 Days 0
Pay for Holidays Not Worked or OT for Holidays Worked .22
Pay 10
Unpaid 0
Maximum Vacation Duration .67
3 Weeks Generally, 4 Weeks After 10 Years with Employer 10
2 Weeks Generally, 3 Weeks after 5 Years with Employer 8.33
2 Weeks Generally, 3 Weeks After 6 Years with Employer 6.67
2 Weeks Generally, 3 Weeks After 8 Years with Employer 5.0
2 Weeks Generally, 3 Weeks After 15 Years with Employer 3.33
2 Weeks Maximum 1.67
No Required Vacation 0

Table 16
Individual Termination Of Employment, Provisions, Weights, Subindex Values, Canadian And United States Jurisdiction Comparison
Provision/LanguageProvision WeightSub-Index Value
Notice at 3-4 Years of Employment.25
4 weeks 10
3 Weeks 7.5
2 Weeks 5.0
1.5 Weeks 2.5
No Provision 0
Notice at 7-8 Years of Employment.25
7 weeks 10
6 weeks 8.57
5 Weeks 7.15
4 Weeks 5.71
3 weeks 4.29
2 Weeks 2.86
1.5 Weeks 1.43
No Provision 0
Notice and Termination Pay .25
Required 10
Not Required 0
Legislated Protection from Unjust Dismissal with Possibility of Reinstatement.5
Legislative Protection for Employees after 1-2 Years with Employer 10
Employees Covered after 10 Years with Employer 5
No Protection 0

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Date Modified:
2012-02-15