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6 MINKnow Your Rights · Guide · Canada

Missing Pay or Shorted Hours: How to Recover Unpaid Wages in Canada

The iamonmybreak Desk · Last checked 2026-11-11

When a paycheque or direct deposit comes in lower than the shifts worked — whether from missing closing hours, unpaid vacation pay, an unauthorized deduction, or a missed payday — the fastest path to getting paid starts with a clear shift log and one dated written message. Most payroll errors are resolved once exact dates and hours are put in writing, and that same message serves as your dated record if you later file a free government wage claim.

PART 1: Build your two-column math before you talk to anyone

Verbal hallway conversations disappear. Payroll systems run on dates, hours, and gross dollar lines. Before messaging a supervisor or payroll clerk, put two columns on paper or in your phone notes:

  • What you worked: every shift date, start time, end time, unpaid meal break, and the agreed hourly rate. If your workplace uses a scheduling app, screenshot the past pay period immediately — many apps hide or overwrite prior weeks.
  • What the pay statement shows: the pay-period start and end dates, gross wages, regular hours, overtime hours, vacation pay, and each deduction listed separately.

In Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and federally regulated workplaces, employment-standards rules require an employer to provide a written or electronic pay statement showing hours, gross pay, and each specific deduction. You can check whether statutory tax, CPP, and EI deductions look close to standard tables on our 2026 Canadian Take-Home Paycheque Estimator and inspect every provincial rule on the Pay and rights Facts pages.

Look for one more thing on that stub: unauthorized deductions.

  • In Ontario, under the Employment Standards Act, 2000, an employer cannot deduct for faulty work, and cannot deduct for cash shortages or lost property unless only one worker had sole access and total control over the cash or property.
  • In British Columbia, under the Employment Standards Act, an employer cannot deduct business costs — such as breakage, damage, cash shortages, or a customer walking out without paying — from wages, even if a worker signed a paper agreeing to it.
  • In Alberta, under the Employment Standards Code, deductions for faulty work and uniforms are prohibited even with written permission, and cash-shortage deductions have strict limits.
  • In federally regulated workplaces, under Part III of the Canada Labour Code, deductions outside tax, CPP, EI, court orders, or collective agreements generally require specific written authorization for a lawful purpose and cannot reduce pay below the statutory floor for employer business losses.

PART 2: Send one calm written note (the paper trail)

If the stub is short — or missing — write once by email or text so the date and numbers exist in writing. Keep anger out of it. Give payroll an easy, face-saving doorway to fix an error on the next run, while quietly creating the exact record a labour officer asks to see later:

Copy, fill in, send

Subject: Pay statement check — pay period [start date] to [end date] — [your full name]

Hello [Manager or Payroll name],

I am writing to check on my pay for the period from [start date] to [end date], paid on [payday date].

From my shift records, I worked [total hours] hours ([list dates and shift lengths, e.g., Nov 2: 8 hrs, Nov 4: 8.5 hrs]), while my pay statement shows [hours or gross amount shown, or “no pay statement / deposit received yet”].

Could you please check whether the missing [number of hours / vacation pay / deduction item] was left off this cycle, and let me know in writing when the adjustment will be paid?

Thank you, [Your full name] · [Employee ID or phone number]

Why this works: if it was a clerical mistake, payroll has every date needed to issue an off-cycle payment or add it to the next cheque. If no one replies — or the reply refuses to pay earned hours — you now hold a dated, polite written record showing the exact day you raised it.

PART 3: Free government wage claims (and deadlines by province)

Filing an employment-standards wage claim with a provincial or federal labour office costs $0. Workers do not need a lawyer to submit the form. What matters most is the filing clock — because waiting past the statutory deadline closes the free government route even when the shift records are crystal clear.

Ontario (Employment Standards Act, 2000)

  • Payday and stub rule: In Ontario, an employer must establish a regular recurring pay period and payday, and give a written wage statement on or before each payday showing the pay period, gross wages, and each deduction.
  • Deadline to file: 2 years from the date of the contravention (for example, the payday on which the wages were due).
  • Where claims go: Workers covered by the Act can submit a free online claim with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Before filing, the Ministry generally expects a worker to contact the employer directly unless there is a safety, language, time-limit, or business-closure reason not to.
  • Protection against retaliation: Section 74 of Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 prohibits an employer from intimidating, firing, cutting hours, or penalizing an employee for asking about rights or filing a claim.

British Columbia (Employment Standards Act)

  • Payday and stub rule: In British Columbia, an employer must pay wages at least twice a month and within 8 days after the end of each pay period, with a wage statement listing the wage rate, regular hours, overtime hours, gross pay, and every deduction.
  • Deadline to file: 6 months. If employment has ended, the deadline is 6 months from the last day of employment; if still employed, a complaint covers contraventions within the preceding 6 months.
  • Where claims go: Workers covered by the Act can file a free online complaint with the BC Employment Standards Branch (and can use the Branch’s Solution Explorer first).
  • Protection against retaliation: Section 83 of BC’s Employment Standards Act prohibits an employer from mistreating, suspending, laying off, or dismissing a person for making an inquiry or filing a complaint.

Alberta (Employment Standards Code)

  • Payday and stub rule: In Alberta, earnings must be paid within 10 consecutive days after the end of each pay period, accompanied by a written pay statement showing regular and overtime hours, earnings by category, and each deduction with its reason.
  • Deadline to file: While still employed, or within 6 months after the last day of employment.
  • Where claims go: Workers covered by the Code can file a free complaint online through an Alberta.ca Account or call the Employment Standards Contact Centre at 1-877-427-3731.
  • Protection against retaliation: Section 125 of Alberta’s Employment Standards Code prohibits an employer from discriminating against or terminating an employee for making a complaint or giving information under the Code.

Federally regulated workplaces (Canada Labour Code, Part III)

  • Who this covers: Banks, airlines and airports, telecommunications and broadcasting, interprovincial trucking, buses, railways, shipping, postal and courier services, grain elevators, uranium mining, and Crown corporations — regardless of which province the building sits in.
  • Payday and recovery window: Under Part III of the Canada Labour Code, regular wages must be paid on the established payday, and other amounts owed under Part III within 30 days of when entitlement arose. The federal Labour Program can issue payment orders recovering up to 24 months of unpaid wages.
  • Deadline to file: 6 months from the last day on which the employer was required to pay the wages.
  • Where claims go: Workers covered by Part III can file a free written labour standards complaint online with the federal Labour Program (Employment and Social Development Canada). In federally regulated workplaces, since June 20, 2024, a person paid remuneration is presumed to be an employee unless the employer proves otherwise.
  • Protection against retaliation: Section 246.1 of the Canada Labour Code prohibits reprisals against an employee who asks about rights or files a Part III complaint.

Where these rules stop. The provincial deadlines and payday rules above apply to provincially regulated employees in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta, and the federal section applies to federally regulated workplaces across Canada. Workers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut are covered by their own provincial or territorial labour offices, which set their own filing windows. Quebec is not covered on this page (Quebec workplace rules will be added alongside a French edition). Unionized workers covered by a collective agreement generally must use their union grievance procedure rather than a government employment-standards claim, and genuinely self-employed independent contractors recover unpaid invoices through contract or small-claims channels (apart from app-based ride-hail and delivery workers covered by BC’s platform rules or Ontario’s Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022).

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iamonmybreak publishes general information for working people. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for advice about your own situation. Rules differ by province and country and change over time; the date at the top of this piece is when we last checked. For your specific case, especially anything involving money you are owed, contact a free community legal clinic or your provincial or territorial labour standards office.