If you appoint a team leader and a group leader, both are entitled to a premium in addition to their wage rates. The percentage varies, depending on the trade. The team leader and group leader premium is the only one that is increased.

Example: Increased group leader premium for a joiner
Wage: $39.10/hour – Group leader premium: 10%
$39.10 + $39.10 = $78.20 X 10% = $7.82/hour (group leader premium)

Please see article 22.03 (in French only)

We call them team leader, group leader, superintendent or foreperson. Did you know that you can find definitions of these positions in the collective agreement (in French only)?

There are only two definitions in the collective agreement, that of team leader and group leader. That’s right, you will not find definitions for superintendent or foreperson.

Are you obliged to designate a team leader or group leader on your work site? Not necessarily, if someone on your work site holds a higher supervisory position, such as general foreperson, superintendent or designated representative.

Article 4.02 states that a team leader must be appointed when you have four or more employees practicing the same trade on the same work site. The team leader cannot be an apprentice. Pay careful attention to special rules.

Article 4.03 states that a group leader must be appointed when you have seven or more employees practicing the same trade on the same work site. The group leader cannot be an apprentice.

Team leaders or group leaders do not hold hiring or dismissal power, nor do they have the power to impose disciplinary measures. In addition, they cannot be responsible for employees other than those working in the same trade as them.

Note that the documents cited above are in French only.

Consider an employee who must travel to a work site more than 65 kilometres from home, but less than 120 kilometres using his or her vehicle. You must pay an amount, but which one applies? Is it the $0.49 per kilometre or the premium for travelling expenses? If the employee uses a personal vehicle during the day to get from one work site to another, or uses the vehicle for the benefit of the employer, the employee must be paid $0.49 per kilometre. The employer must pay the worker $37.50 or $42.43 (depending on the distance) per kilometre for travel to and from the work site at the beginning and the end of the work day.

A construction employee is asked to complete a training. Should the employee be paid CCQ rates with all of the benefits?

Article 4.07 of the collective agreement states that the employee assigned to a training on the operation or performance of new tasks arising from technological progress or mechanization must be paid their usual salary with all the benefits for the duration of the training.

What about other trainings? Please contact your advisor for further details or if you have any questions in this regard.

Hourly wage rate schedules for labour: What do non-monetary clauses eat during winter?

Have you ever had to pay a bill stemming from an unexpected work site contingency for which the client was not billed? (loss of tools, attendance allowance, etc.)
Have you ever omitted to advise an employee in writing 48 hours prior to dismissal or had to pay an eight-hour indemnity? (notice of dismissal)
Have you ever been surprised by downpour or a storm and had to suspend operations on a work site? (attendance and inclement weather allowance)

The monetary clauses  in column 15 – shown in the wage schedules posted on the ACQ website in June 2017 – are articles from our collective agreements that have an impact on wages paid to your employees. They were evaluated at 11.8% of gross salary. However, the portion of expenses allocated to these clauses may vary significantly from one company to the next. Each company must carry out an individual assessment of additional costs related to specific situations experienced on work sites.

Hourly wage rate schedules for labour (FR)

The industrial sector includes the construction of buildings and equipment related to economic activity involving the production or processing of raw materials and goods. Some so-called “heavy” industries entail additional labour costs ranging from 6 to 10%. Heavy industries can include assembly plants for cars, trucks, buses, metro cars or aeronautical vehicles, as well as paper mills, cement factories, petroleum refineries, chemical plants, metallurgical plants, and iron and steel plants.

In order to determine if heavy industry applies to your work site, please view our website or contact your labour relations advisor.

View the table below for a list of the types of work that can be performed. In order to ensure that you comply with collective agreements, we invite you to contact one of our labour relations experts.

Certain trades are governed by specific rules (insulator, boilermaker, pipefitter and pipe welder, refrigerationist, security system installer, guard, elevator mechanic and fire-protection mechanic) concerning work during vacations. Please contact your LR advisor for further information.

It is not necessary to pay an employee on vacation since the employer pays an indemnity for this vacation in its monthly report to the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ). The CCQ then issues a cheque for vacation pay, in June.

For all the work sites listed above, work operations may be performed during the compulsory annual vacation. There may be exceptions, however. Please contact the advisor in your region for details on the terms and conditions applicable to your situation.

If you receive a statement of offence or are visited on the work site by a CCQ inspector who informs you that you will receive a statement of offence, our advisors will be glad to guide you through the process. Please contact us immediately in order to avoid receiving a statement, find out about the circumstances, prepare your file, and provide the necessary supporting documents while the event remains recent.

Did know that it is mandatory for all employers to keep a registry? The registry contains information specific to employees, including names, addresses, job titles, and for each day of work, the time that employees start and finish, break times, sector, the number of regular and overtime work hours, the location of the work site, and the nature of the work. The good news is that the registry can be made up of time cards and payroll records.

For further information concerning the registry, please contact the Labour relations department.

Do not be intimidated! Act R-20 confers this power upon the CCQ. First, it is important to collaborate. In order to avoid feeling overwhelmed by all the questions that inspectors may have at the time and throughout the inspection process, and to find out how to provide supporting evidence, we invite you to contact your advisor immediately after the initial visit to your head office or a soon as you receive a request by postal mail. We will be able to guide you and help you provide the appropriate answers in order to avoid a claim. Often, you may not think of other methods of payment that you could have used to minimize the impact of the inspection. We will help you better understand what’s required.

Do you have one of more journeypersons in any given trade, but require labour in a separate trade? Did you know that a journeyperson can obtain an apprentice competency certificate in a separate trade?

A journeyperson can obtain an apprentice competency certificate in a separate trade simply by going in person to the CCQ and paying the applicable fees. The journeyperson will then be able to perform the tasks of the chosen trade as well as those of his or her existing journeyperson trade. It is important to add that your mandatory proportion of journeypersons and apprentices applies.

Please contact a labour relations advisor for further information.

Do you spend considerable time making calls from the lists provided in the CCQ’s Carnet référence construction? Did you know that you can limit yourself to one list only? A well-established CCQ procedure states that if this list has not fulfilled your search for labour, all you need to do is inform the CCQ about your initial request after 24 hours. The CCQ will take charge of finding the labour corresponding to your specific request. If you need help in learning more about this process, please contact your labour relations advisor.

What to do and check when you hire a new employee:

• Request a hiring number from the CCQ via the Carnet référence construction (maximum wait time of 48 hours).
• Receipt of a hiring number from the CCQ; ensure that there are no restrictions or refusals mentioned on the confirmation.
• Have the employee complete form 6.03.2 (copy CCQ, union and employee file) – (form available in French only).
• Make a copy of the certificate of competency, checking and confirming that the employee information is accurate (address, region, preferential, apprentice period, etc.).

(reference: regulation 6.1 articles 40 and following)

What to do in the event of dismissal:

• Dismissal notice in writing (48 hours in advance). If written notice is not issued, a compensating benefit equivalent a normal day of work is paid to the employee on his or her final pay (generally varying between eight and 10 hours). Attention, specific rules apply to a carpenter-joiner, electrician, refrigerationist, fire protection mechanic, boilermaker, millwright, insulator, and job-site steward.
• Ask for the employment termination number via the CCQ’s Carnet référence construction.
• Issue a record of employment.