A Guide to the Employment Standards Act 05

PLEASE NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS OUTDATED (it is retained here for comparison purposes only)

See

http://www.labour.gov.bc.ca/esb/esaguide/

for current information

A Guide to the Employment Standards Act

5. KEEPING RECORDS

Payroll Records

The Act requires an employer to keep, in English, for each employee, the following records at its principal place of business in British Columbia:

the employee's name, date of birth, occupation, telephone number and residential address,
the date the employment began,
the employee's wage rate, whether paid hourly, by salary or on some other basis,
the hours worked on each day, regardless of the basis by which the employee is paid,
the benefits paid to the employee,
the employee's gross and net wages for each pay period,
the amount of and reason for each deduction from the employee's wages,
the dates of the statutory holidays taken by the employee and the amounts paid,
the dates of the annual vacation taken, the amounts paid, and the days and amounts owing, and
the dates taken and amounts paid from the employee's time bank, and the balance remaining.

These records must be kept for 7 years after the employment ends.

Flexible Work Schedule Records

If an employer has implemented a flexible work schedule, the employer must keep all records relating to its approval for 7 years (see Chapter 8 - Flexible Work Schedules).

Special Clothing Records

If an employer and employees have agreed that the employer will reimburse employees for the cost of cleaning and maintaining special clothing, the employer must keep records of the agreement and the amounts paid for 7 years (see Chapter 12 - Special Clothing).

Statutory Holiday Substitution Records

If an employer and a majority of employees have agreed to substitute another day for a statutory holiday, the employer must keep records of this agreement for 7 years.

Employee Records

Although employees are not required by the Act to keep records, the Branch encourages employees to write down their hours of work on a daily basis. Such records may help resolve disagreements over hours worked and wages paid.

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