Ontario HR Compliance · CLC Part III (labour standards)
Recordkeeping (CLC Part III)
Federal employers must keep hours and wage records for 36 months, paid-medical-leave records for 3 years, and the required averaging and holiday-substitution notices — recordkeeping failures are a designated AMP violation.
Federally regulated employers must keep accurate records of the hours each employee works every day, along with wage and employment records. Retention periods by record type:
- Hours-of-work and wage/employment records: 36 months (3 years) after the work is performed
- Motor vehicle operator hours-of-service logs: kept to a more detailed standard under the separate Transport Canada regime
- Paid-medical-leave records (dates taken, year earned, days carried over, certificate requests): 3 years
- Averaging-arrangement notices and general-holiday substitution notices: also retained
Recordkeeping failures aren’t a minor paperwork issue: they’re among the Type A violations the Labour Program has specifically designated for administrative monetary penalties under CLC Part IV.
This is general information, not legal advice; confirm current retention requirements for a specific record type before relying on them.
Source: Government of Canada — Federal labour standards: hours of work ·
Also: Canada Labour Standards Regulations (C.R.C., c. 986)
Last reviewed .
Confidence: Verified
Related notes
- Federal Minimum Wage (CLC Part III) — The federal minimum wage resets every April 1, indexed to the prior year's CPI and rounded up to the nearest $0.05, and an employer must pay the higher of the federal rate or the applicable provincial rate where the employee works.
- Hours of Work and Overtime (CLC Part III) — Standard federal hours are 8 a day and 40 a week, overtime is at least 1.5 times the regular rate beyond that, and a handful of exemptions and averaging arrangements can change the calculation.
- Breaks and Rest Periods (CLC Part III) — Federal employees get an unpaid 30-minute break every 5 consecutive hours of work, at least 8 consecutive hours of rest between work periods, and unpaid medical or nursing breaks where needed.
- Annual Vacation (CLC Part III) — Federal vacation entitlement is tiered by continuous service — 2 weeks/4% after 1 year, 3 weeks/6% after 5 years, 4 weeks/8% after 10 years — a richer scale than Ontario's, which has no statutory 4-week tier.
- General (Statutory) Holidays (CLC Part III) — Federal employees get 10 general holidays, one more than Ontario's 9, because the federal list adds the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Remembrance Day.
- Federal vs. Ontario Jurisdiction: The Employment-Law "Instead Of" Rule — A federally regulated employer follows the Canada Labour Code and related federal statutes in place of Ontario employment law, not on top of it — the federal regime replaces the ESA, OHSA, Human Rights Code, AODA and Pay Equity Act rather than adding to them.
- Paid Medical Leave (CLC Part III, s.239) — Every federally regulated employee accrues up to 10 days of paid medical leave a year regardless of employer size, a right added to the Canada Labour Code effective December 1, 2022.
- Administrative Monetary Penalties (Part IV): Framework and Baseline Schedule — Part IV of the Canada Labour Code sets administrative monetary penalties for designated violations, classified Type A through Type E and scaled by employer size, with a repeat-violation multiplier and a $250,000 statutory cap per penalty.