Overtime & Flextime

Overtime and flextime are not the same and staff members asked to work beyond their regular hours should receive overtime pay. The overtime request should be accompanied by a written authorization for the overtime. Overtime can be either banked or paid out at the rate of time and a half. Staff "who work overtime for two (2) consecutive hours or more beyond their regular hours in a work day are entitled to a meal allowance in the amount of ten (10) dollars."

Overtime - Paid and Unpaid

1) Working longer hours may affect your health.
2) All overtime must be authorized before it is worked.
3) Some job classifications are excluded from receiving overtime.
4) If staff work beyond 9 p.m., the University must pay for a taxi home.

Work long hours? Feel stressed out or anxious? Ever worked unpaid overtime and felt compelled to do so just to "keep up"?

Answered "yes" to some or all of these questions? Well, you're not alone. Statistics Canada reported in 1999 that Canadians feel increasingly stressed by longer hours of work. Men and women alike reported feeling more stress than they had six years previous. Additionally, those who were "severely time-stressed" spent more time at work than low-stress individuals.

Another Statistics Canada study from 1999 found that working longer hours may endanger one's health. The report stated that "The growing number of workers who are spending longer hours on the job may be putting certain aspects of their health at risk". Workers who had moved to a longer work week (41 hours or more) from a standard work week (35 - 40 hours), smoked and drank more, and also experienced weight gains that were not healthy. According to the study, "These associations between hours of work and lifestyle behavior echo the results of research in other countries, notably Japan, where long hours have been linked to health outcomes such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease." (Answer, question 1)

A troubling statistic regarding persistent stress resulted from a study conducted by Decima Research. According to this study, more than four in ten Canadians age thirty years or over, "often" or "almost always" feel beleaguered by stress. Statistics Canada has also calculated that $12 billion of work time is lost annually as a result of stress.

Over a period of approximately five years during the mid-1990's many administrative and technical staff at UofT directly felt the impact of increased workplace stress as our numbers were cut by approximately 25%. Many of us regularly worked long hours of unpaid overtime to ensure that the work was done, and some found it difficult or impossible to be compensated for that overtime work.

One of the big gains in our collective agreement was on the issue of overtime. No job classifications are now excluded from paid overtime. (Answer, question 3) Overtime is now paid out at time and a half after one has worked more than 36 ¼ hours in one week and the supervisor must authorize it before it is worked. (Answer, question 2) Those who are required to work overtime beyond 9 p.m. are entitled to receive a taxi chit or have their parking cost reimbursed. (Answer, question 4) A meal allowances of $10 must be provided to those who work two or more consecutive overtime hours. (Article 24, page 23 in the collective agreement)

Overtime hours can either be paid out as earned, or maintained in an "overtime bank". The hours in the overtime bank can never go beyond 200. Any overtime beyond that must be paid out. "Overtime will be credited as it is earned (e.g. at time and one-half the actual hours worked)…Lieu time off in an employee's overtime bank will be taken at times mutually agreed to by the employee and the immediate supervisor." Any accumulated overtime in the overtime bank will be paid out if an employee leaves the university. (Article 24.08, page 24 in the collective agreement)

Steelworkers at UofT now have clear protection regarding paid overtime. Anyone who is required to work beyond his or her normal hours, must be sure it is approved before it is worked. If a supervisor does not authorize overtime, then it is very clear that they are expecting an employee to work only the standard hours of work and not to work any "unpaid overtime". However, if getting the job done requires working beyond standard hours, and the supervisor determines that a deadline must be met, staff must be compensated through paid overtime.

It's clear from the Statscan and Decima studies that our health is at risk as a result of longer hours and stress, and that much work time is lost as a consequence of stress. It can be very debilitating, and affect both family and work life. In France, a shorter work week (35 hours) without regular overtime has been advocated as a means of increasing employment. The more people working, the less need for overtime.

A song written in the 1800s during the union campaign for the eight hour day still resonates for many of us working in the 21st century:

"We mean to make things over
We're tired of toil for naught
But bare enough to live on; never
An hour for thought.
We want to feel the sunshine: we
Want to smell the flowers
We're sure that God has willed it
And we mean to have eight hours.
Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours, for what we will!"