Supervisory Employee not a "Manager"

The B.C. Supreme Court recently decided that an employee who supervised as many as five other employees was not a “manager” for the purposes of the Employment Standards Act.

An Employment Standards Tribunal determined that an employee was not a manager for the purposes of the Act. As a result, the employee was entitled to certain benefits available only to non-managerial employees. The employer, a construction contractor, applied for judicial review of the Tribunal’s decision. The employer argued that the employee monitored the work of other employees and was therefore a manager within the meaning of the Act.

The Court dismissed the application. On the evidence, the Court found that the employee was not responsible for “supervising” or “directing” employees as required by the Act’s definition of “manager”. He did not decide what work would be done or how it would be done; he did not evaluate or discipline employees; and he made no independent decisions about hiring, firing, scheduling, or time off. He was responsible for recording the work of the supervised employees; reporting to management about the work; enforcing safety policies; and obtaining materials necessary for continuation of employees’ work. However, these duties were not found to be sufficient to bring the employee within the Act’s definition of a “manager”.

(Click here for copy of Decision)