FIFO and camp work: overtime and camp tax

Overtime in B.C.

Under a B.C. averaging agreement: past your scheduled hours and past 8 hours in a day earns time-and-a-half. Past 12 hours in a day earns double time. Hours above an average of 40 a week over the agreement earn time-and-a-half.

An averaging agreement is a signed deal that spreads your hours over 1 to 4 weeks. Under it, you can agree to work up to 12 hours a day with no overtime, as long as your hours average no more than 40 a week. Long days can still earn overtime. Time-and-a-half starts when you are past your scheduled hours and past 8 hours in a day. Hours past 12 in a day are paid at double time.

Example: your shift is scheduled for 10 hours and runs to 12. The last 2 hours are paid at time-and-a-half. If your hours over the whole period average more than 40 a week, the extra hours are also paid at time-and-a-half.

A B.C. averaging agreement must meet these rules.

• You and the employer sign it before the start date.

• You get a copy before it takes effect.

• It sets out your work schedule for each day it covers. Your overtime is counted from that schedule.

• It leaves you at least 32 hours in a row free from work.

• You can ask in writing to change it, as long as the total scheduled hours stay the same.

Stat holiday pay: you qualify once you have been employed for 30 calendar days. You must also have worked under an averaging agreement within the 30 days before the holiday.

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Overtime in Alberta

Under an Alberta averaging arrangement, your daily overtime total is compared with your averaging-period overtime total. You are paid the greater amount. The arrangement can change or remove daily overtime.

Read your written arrangement first. A collective agreement can set different overtime rules. Your employer can set a daily overtime threshold in the written arrangement, or remove daily overtime. Otherwise, daily overtime starts after:

• 8 hours, if your scheduled shift is less than 8 hours.

• Your scheduled hours, if your scheduled shift is 8 hours or more.

Averaging-period overtime still applies, even if the arrangement removes daily overtime. It starts after:

• 44 hours in a 1-week averaging period.

• An average of 44 hours a week in a longer averaging period.

You and your employer can agree to paid time off instead of overtime pay. You bank at least 1 hour off for each overtime hour you work.

In Alberta, your employer can put you on an averaging arrangement without asking you. It can average your hours over 1 to 52 weeks. You normally get 2 weeks of written notice before it starts, unless you and the employer agree otherwise. If you are a new employee, written notice before your first day is enough.

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Days off and shift changes in Alberta

If Alberta's rest rules cover your job, you get at least 4 days off in a row. That comes after each stretch of 24 work days in a row.

These workers are exempt from the rest rules:

• Roadbuilding and heavy construction workers.

• Oil and gas continuous operations workers.

A shift change needs at least 24 hours of written notice and at least 8 hours of rest between the shifts. Under an averaging arrangement, the notice rule does not apply to schedule changes caused by:

• An accident.

• Urgent work.

• Something that could not be foreseen or prevented.

The arrangement can also allow shorter or verbal notice. A collective agreement can set its own shift-change rules.

These overtime rules cover British Columbia and Alberta only. This guide does not say what any employer pays.

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Is camp room and board taxed?

Room and board at a special work site can be left out of your income when all five conditions below apply. If they do not apply, it generally counts as income. Remote work locations have separate rules that may let you leave it out.

If all five conditions below apply, you can leave these out of your income:

• Room and board at a special work site.

• An allowance for that room and board, up to a reasonable amount.

The five conditions:

• Your job requires you to be away from your main home, or at the site.

• The work is temporary.

• You keep a self-contained home somewhere else as your main home. It stays available to you the whole time, and you do not rent it out.

• The site is too far to go home each day.

• The room and board covers a period when you had to be at the site for at least 36 hours. Time spent travelling between home and the site counts toward that.

You and your employer fill out Form TD4. This lets your employer leave these amounts out of your income. Its full name is Declaration of Exemption for Employment at a Special Work Site.

A site can be both a special work site and a remote work location. Even if both sets of rules apply, you can leave each benefit out of your income only once. This guide covers only the special work site rules.

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The conditions explained

The CRA reads those conditions this way.

• Temporary: the CRA generally treats your duties as temporary if you reasonably expect no more than 2 years of continuous work. This is judged from what was known when you started.

• A self-contained home: a house, apartment or similar place where you usually sleep and eat. It generally has restricted access, a kitchen, a bathroom and sleeping space. It must be separate from any other unit in the building.

• Too far: the CRA generally treats more than 80 kilometres, by the most direct route normally taken, as too far to go home each day. It may treat a shorter trip the same way.

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Travel to camp

You can also leave these out of your income if all three conditions below apply:

• Free or subsidized travel to a special work site.

• A travel allowance for that trip, up to a reasonable amount.

All three conditions must apply:

• The trip is between the site and your main home.

• Your job keeps you away from home, or at the site, for at least 36 hours, counting the travel.

• Room and board, or a reasonable allowance for it, is provided for that same period.

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Northern residents deductions

You qualify for the northern residents deductions if both conditions apply:

• You lived in a prescribed northern or intermediate zone on a permanent basis.

• You lived there for at least 6 months in a row.

There are two deductions: one for residency and one for travel. Your main home may be outside a prescribed zone. You may still get all or part of the basic residency amount for living at a special work site. That depends on two things: the site is in a prescribed zone, and you lived there for at least 6 months in a row.

If the site is in a prescribed zone and your main home is outside all prescribed zones, tax-free room and board reduces your residency amounts. One exception: the site is 30 kilometres or more from the edge of any population centre of at least 40,000 people. Then you do not enter the amount on Form T2222. Otherwise, find your tax-free room and board amount in:

• Box 31 of your T4 slip.

• Box 124 of your T4A slip.

Enter that amount on Form T2222.

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What to check

Check these on your averaging agreement, your pay stubs and your tax slips.

• In B.C., you must get a copy of your averaging agreement before it takes effect. Keep it.

• Find the daily schedule in the agreement. Overtime is counted past those hours, once you are also past 8 hours in the day.

• Find the averaging period. In B.C. it is 1 to 4 weeks.

• In Alberta, read the written arrangement for its own daily overtime threshold. It can set one, or remove daily overtime. You normally get 2 weeks of written notice before it starts, unless you agree otherwise. If you are new, written notice before you start work is enough.

• If your employer treats camp room and board as tax-free, ask whether Form TD4 has been filled out.

• If you lived at a special work site, look at box 31 of your T4 slip or box 124 of your T4A slip. Those amounts change the northern residents deductions.

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