Proposed UCP changes to banked overtime worry workers
Andrew Despres is not a fan of the United Conservative Party’s proposed changes to overtime laws.
As an IT support worker at a school board in Leduc, he earns a salary and doesn’t get paid overtime. Instead, any overtime hours he works have been banked at time and a half since new labour legislation — introduced by the NDP — came into effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
That means he gets 1.5 days off for every day of overtime worked.
The banked time allows Despres more time to help out his aging parents, who recently moved back to Edmonton from Victoria.
“With that extra time off, I am able to give them a hand more often,” Despres says . “I can also spend more time with my girlfriend, or with my dog.”
In its platform, the UCP proposes it will “return to allowing banked hours to be paid out at regular pay instead of time-and-a-half” as part of what it is calling The Open for Business Act.
The changes would apply mainly to non-union workers like Despres.
“I think it is preposterous,” Despres said. “It is truly anti-worker. It is moving backwards and we have already been through this. If anything, we need more rights and benefits to workers.”