Basic rules
- An employee’s hours of work must be confined within a period of 13 consecutive hours in any one workday.
- An employee can request their hours of work to be confined within a period of 12 consecutive hours in any workday.
- An employee must receive 8 consecutive hours of rest immediately upon completing a shift that is longer than 12 consecutive hours.
- Scheduled hours under an averaging arrangement must not exceed 13 consecutive hours in a workday.
Continuous operations
An oil and gas continuous operations employee is someone employed in developing, producing or refining natural gas or oil who works in a continuous operation setting.
The following are not considered oil and gas continuous operations employees:
- office or administrative employees
Hours of work and pay
Minimum standards for hours of work
The maximum daily hours of work that an oil and gas continuous operations employee may be scheduled is 13 hours, unless an accident occurs, urgent work is necessary to a plant or machinery, or other unforeseeable or unpreventable circumstances occur.
An employee can request their hours of work to be confined within a period of 12 consecutive hours on any one workday.
Rest periods
An employee must receive at least 8 consecutive hours of rest immediately upon completing a shift that is longer than 12 consecutive hours.
Averaging arrangements
The maximum scheduled hours under an averaging arrangement for oil and gas continuous operations employees is 13 hours per day.
This applies to both individual and group averaging arrangements.
Additional Employment Standards
In addition to the special provisions outlined above, all other minimum standards for employment apply to oil and gas continuous operations employees. Learn more about these rules on the following Alberta government web pages:
- Averaging arrangements (with the exception of what’s listed above)
- Deductions from earnings
- Hours of work and rest (with the exception of what’s listed above)
- Job-protected leaves
- Minimum wage
- Overtime hours and overtime pay
- Payment of earnings
- Termination and termination pay
- Vacations and vacation pay
- Youth employment laws
How the law applies
Part 3, Division 12 of the Employment Standards Regulation outlines the provisions that apply to oil and gas continuous operations employees.
Disclaimer: In the event of any discrepancy between this information and Alberta Employment Standards legislation, the legislation is considered correct.