Hours of Work, Overtime and Attendance Policy

Purpose

This policy explains how working hours are scheduled, recorded and paid at NEO, how overtime works, and what to do if you will be late or absent. It meets at least what Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) requires, and your employment agreement may give you more.

Who it applies to

• Employees of NEO, in the office, at hearings and when working remotely.
• Not independent contractors, who set their own hours under their agreements and our Independent Contractor Paralegals Policy.
• Students on placement follow the schedule their placement sets and tell their supervisor if they will be late or absent, under our Students and Placements Policy.

The ESA exempts some roles from some of the rules below, for example some managerial and supervisory roles from overtime. If your role is exempt from a rule, your employment agreement says so, and that rule applies to you only as your agreement provides.

Your schedule

1. The work schedule in the staff portal shows your shifts. We give as much notice of changes as we reasonably can. Ask the principal if you need a change.
2. The work week runs from Sunday to Saturday, unless your employment agreement says otherwise.
3. What counts as work: time you work for NEO wherever you are, training the firm or the law requires, meetings the firm requires, travel during your working day for firm business (not your usual commute between home and work), and time you are required to wait at work.

The punch clock and your timesheet

1. Punch in in the staff portal when you start and punch out when you finish, every day you work, including at home or at a hearing. If you can't punch at the time, ask for a correction as soon as you can.
2. Breaks on the punch clock. Use Lunch for your eating period, and Personal or Other for time away from work, such as an errand: these pause the working clock. Short rest and washroom breaks taken while you remain at work are paid working time. You don't need to record them; if you do (the Rest break and Washroom buttons), the working clock keeps running.
3. Only your own time. Never punch in or out for someone else, or ask someone to do it for you. Falsifying time records is serious misconduct under our Performance, Discipline and Ending Employment Policy.
4. Corrections. If you forgot to punch or an entry is wrong, ask the principal for a correction and give a short reason. Every correction is marked on the record with its reason and who made it.
5. Confirm your timesheet for each pay period by the end of the second business day after the period ends. A late timesheet never delays your pay.
6. Time on client matters is recorded separately for billing and the client's file. It doesn't replace the punch clock.

The punch clock and other records are described in our Electronic Monitoring of Staff Policy, and kept as our Employee Privacy and Personnel Records Policy explains.

Pay days

You are paid semi-monthly by direct deposit on the 1st and the 16th of each month, for a half-month that has already ended. The 1st pays for work from the 1st to the 15th of the previous month, and the 16th pays for work from the 16th to the last day of the previous month. If a pay day falls on a weekend, a public holiday or another day banks are closed, you are paid on the business day before. Our Payroll and Pay Days Policy has the details.

Eating periods and breaks

1. Eating period. You get at least 30 minutes free from work so that you never work more than five hours in a row without one. It is unpaid unless your agreement says otherwise. If you and the principal agree, it can be split into two breaks within each five hours, adding up to at least 30 minutes.
2. If you are asked to work, or to stay available, during your eating period, that time is work and is paid.
3. Short rest breaks aren't required by the ESA. Any you take while remaining at work are paid working time.

Daily and weekly limits, and rest

1. Limits. You won't be asked to work more than 8 hours in a day (or your regular working day, if the firm sets one longer than 8 hours) or 48 hours in a work week, unless you sign an excess hours agreement, or in the exceptional circumstances the ESA allows, such as an emergency. Before you sign an agreement, you receive the most recent information sheet on hours of work and overtime pay published by the Director of Employment Standards, and the agreement records that you received it. Agreeing is your choice, and saying no is never held against you. You can cancel the agreement by giving two weeks' written notice (an email is fine).
2. Rest. You get at least 11 hours in a row free from work each day, at least 8 hours between shifts (unless the two shifts total 13 hours or less, or you agree otherwise in writing), and at least 24 hours in a row off each work week, or 48 hours in a row in every two work weeks.

Overtime

1. Overtime is paid at one and a half times your regular rate for each hour worked over 44 hours in a work week, unless the ESA exempts your role. It is worked out week by week, not day by day, and you can't give up your right to it.
2. Approved in advance. Overtime must be approved in advance by the principal. If you work overtime without approval, you are still paid for it, and we will talk with you about your workload. Repeated unapproved overtime may be addressed as a performance matter, never by withholding pay.
3. When it's paid. Overtime is paid on the pay day for the period in which it is earned.
4. Time off instead of overtime pay is possible only if you agree in writing: one and a half hours of paid time off for each overtime hour, taken within three months after the work week it was earned, or within 12 months if you agree in writing. Banked time not taken in time, or still unused when your employment ends, is paid as overtime pay.
5. Averaging hours over more than one week is used only with your written agreement, over periods of no more than four weeks, and the agreement has a start date and an end date no more than two years apart, as the ESA requires.

Outside your scheduled hours

You aren't expected to work or answer messages outside your scheduled hours. Office staff aren't normally placed on call; any on-call arrangement is agreed with you in writing in advance. Any work you do outside your hours is recorded and paid. Our Disconnecting from Work Policy explains this.

The three-hour rule

If you regularly work more than three hours a day and are required to come in, but work less than three hours although you are available to work longer, you are paid for three hours, as the ESA requires: at least your regular rate for the whole three hours. This doesn't apply if work stops because of fire, lightning, a power failure, storms or similar causes beyond the firm's control.

Lateness and absence

1. Tell the principal before your start time if you will be late or absent, by phone or by message in the staff portal. An email alone isn't enough on the day. If you can't tell us before, tell us as soon as you can.
2. Say what needs covering: any hearing, client appointment or deadline that day, so it can be handled, under our Deadlines and Limitation Periods Policy.
3. Leaving early: tell the principal before you go.
4. If you don't arrive and we can't reach you, we will contact your emergency contact to check that you are safe.
5. Pay. You are paid for the time you work. Pay is never docked as a penalty.
6. Patterns. Repeated lateness or unexplained absence is first discussed with you, and then handled fairly under our Performance, Discipline and Ending Employment Policy. Time off protected by the ESA or the Human Rights Code is never held against you.

Sick days and medical notes

1. Sick leave. After two consecutive weeks of employment, you can take up to three days of job-protected sick leave each calendar year for your own illness, injury or medical emergency. The ESA doesn't require these days to be paid; your agreement may provide paid sick days, and days taken under it for the same reasons count toward the ESA days. See our Vacation, Holidays and Leaves Policy.
2. No doctor's note for ESA sick days. Since October 28, 2024, the ESA has not allowed employers to require a certificate from a qualified health practitioner, such as a doctor, registered nurse or psychologist, for this leave. We may ask for other evidence that is reasonable in the circumstances, such as a short written confirmation from you.
3. Longer absences and returning to work. Some leaves, such as long-term illness leave, allow us to ask for a certificate from a qualified health practitioner. For accommodation or a safe return to work, we ask only for the information we need about your abilities and limits, under our Workplace Accommodation and Return to Work Policy.
4. Contagious illness. Please don't come to the office with an illness others could catch. Ask the principal whether you can work from home if you feel well enough.

Review

This policy is reviewed at least once a year, and whenever employment standards change. The principal approves every change, and employees are told about changes before they take effect.

Questions

Ask the principal, or email info@neolegalservices.com, call 647-200-3526 or toll-free 888-519-2435, or write to us at Unit 236, 1099 Kingston Road, Pickering, Ontario L1V 1B5.