Caregivers

Basic rules

For shifts less than 24 hours in length, overtime is paid for hours worked in excess of 12 hours a day or 264 hours in a work month, whichever is greater.
For shifts 24 hours in length, overtime is paid for hours worked in excess of 264 hours in a work month.

A caregiver is an employee who provides home care or residential care services. Details on caregivers' duties can be found in the Co-ordinated Home Care Program Regulation.

Find out if you are a home care or residential care employee.

Home care

Home care employees are those who provide:

health care services
personal care services
a homemaking service

A health care service is:

a nursing service
rehabilitation therapy
health care procedures authorized by a nurse or a rehabilitation therapist

A personal care service is:

personal hygiene care
assistance with personal activities of daily living

A homemaking service is:

adult sitting and child care
routine housecleaning
laundry
ironing and mending
budgeting
banking
paying bills or shopping for essentials
menu planning or meal preparation
any home management service

Home care employees do not include those who provide:

heavy housework service
handyman service
meals on wheels and wheels to meals
transportation service
office or administrative services

Home care is provided in the client’s residence on a one-on-one basis and the caregiver is not employed directly by the client. These employees are usually employed by third parties, usually agencies, for example, nannies employed by an agency.

A home care client is an individual, regardless of age, who:

requires home care
is unable to perform daily living activities independently
is not the employer of the caregiver

Individuals employed directly by their clients to provide home care services in their client’s home are domestic employees. See Domestic employees for more information on employment standards applicable to domestics.

Individuals who are not employed directly by their clients to provide home care services in their client’s home are caregivers.

A caregiver may include an individual coming into someone’s home to provide assistance to a person with a physical or developmental disability with:

bathing
dressing
feeding
cooking
shopping
paying bills
running errands
giving medicine
making medical decisions

Additionally, a caregiver may provide:

respite services
behaviour, developmental, emotional and social support services
intervention services
management of crisis, emergency and unplanned events
mentoring and group peer support work

Residential care

Residential care employees are those who provide:

a health care service
a personal care service

A health care service is:

a nursing service
rehabilitation therapy
health care procedures authorized by a nurse or a rehabilitation therapist

A personal care service is:

personal hygiene care
assistance with personal activities of daily living

Residential care employees do not include those who provide:

office or administrative work
menu planning and meal preparation
housekeeping, janitorial and maintenance services
other duties not directly related to the personal care and health care of the client

Residential care is provided in a residential setting such as a group home or shelter where employees provide care to several clients at once.

Residential care clients are individuals, regardless of age, who:

require residential care
live or stay in a residential setting
are not the employer of the caregiver

Residential setting means a facility that provides any of the following:

emergency shelter
addiction treatment
supervision and treatment of young offenders
care and treatment of individuals with emotional or behavioural difficulties
care and treatment of individuals with physical or developmental disabilities

An example of a residential caregiver may include an individual who works in a facility with physically or mentally disabled individuals, who require assistance with:

bathing
dressing
feeding
giving medicine
making medical decisions

Another example of a residential caregiver may include an individual who works in an adult emergency shelter or women’s emergency shelter and:

monitors for safety
seeks assistance from Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and/or Police Services (RCMP) when necessary
provides support in crisis situations by identifying problems and assisting with problem solving in a way that minimizes the repetition of the crisis
responds to crisis calls
works with clients to identify needs (emotional, parenting, medical, legal, cultural, spiritual, financial, and housing), and develop a relevant case plan)
ensures the physical needs of food, shelter and safety are provided for women and children in crisis

Hours of work and pay

The standard overtime rule is that overtime is owed for hours worked in excess of 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week, whichever is greater. This rule doesn’t apply to caregivers.

Exceptions

Exceptions to the minimum standards for regular and overtime hours

Caregivers must receive overtime:

for shifts less than 24 hours in length, overtime is paid for hours worked in excess 12 hours a day or 264 hours in a work month, whichever is greater
for shifts that are 24 hours in length, overtime is paid for hours worked in excess of 264 hours in a work month

Regular rules for overtime pay rates and banked overtime apply.

Exceptions to the minimum standards for hours of work

The requirement to confine an employee’s hours of work within a period of 12 consecutive hours in a work day doesn’t apply to home care and residential care employees.

Caregivers working a 24-hour shift

Home care employees working a 24-hour shift must receive pay at a rate that is not less than the Minimum wage for 12 hours.

Residential care employees working a 24-hour shift must receive pay at a rate that is not less than the Minimum wage for 24 hours.

Caregivers working less than a 24-hour shift

An employer may designate up to 8 hours as sleep time in each shift that aren’t counted as hours of work when calculating daily or monthly overtime hours.

If an employee works during designated sleep time, the time worked is counted as hours of work and is included when calculating daily and monthly overtime.

Travel time

Home care may involve caregivers visiting several clients in a day, with time spent travelling between clients or period of inactivity. Travel time or breaks can last anywhere from less than an hour to several hours depending on the needs and location of the client.

2-hour minimum

For each separate period of employment, the employee must receive pay at a rate that is not less than the Minimum wage. Each time a caregiver makes a visit that is separated by an unpaid break (excluding meal breaks) or travel time (of any duration), the visit before and after the break are considered separate periods of employment.

For each separate period of employment, the employee must be paid the greater of:

2 hours paid at the minimum wage, even if the time working was less than 2 hours
the work time spent with the client, paid at the regular wage rate

If this requirement has been met:

the employer isn’t required to pay for the break or travel time, or
an employer may choose to pay through some or all breaks or travel time during the day instead of paying the 2-hour minimum for each separate period of employment

The 2-hour minimum payment requirement doesn’t apply if the employee is not available to work the full 2 hours.

Meal breaks

When there is a meal break of one hour or less between visits, the length of visit before and after the meal break are combined when determining whether an employee has received an equivalent of 2 hours pay. Meal breaks typically include breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Caregiver payment for outings with client

When a caregiver accompanies a client on an outing they must be paid at least their regular rate, unless agreed otherwise.

Outings include:

a vacation
a recreational or educational outing
other various outings

Additional Employment Standards

In addition to the special provisions outlined above, all other minimum standards for employment apply to caregivers. Additional information on these rules can be found at:

How the law applies

Part 3, Division 9 of the Employment Standards Regulation outlines the provisions that apply to caregivers.

Disclaimer: In the event of any discrepancy between this information and Alberta Employment Standards legislation, the legislation is considered correct.

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