What can I do if I’m not paid by my employer in BC?

If your employer hasn't paid wages, overtime, vacation pay, or other amounts owed under the Employment Standards Act (ESA), you have a few options:

1. Talk to your employer first (if safe to do so) — sometimes it's a payroll error that gets fixed quickly. It may be helpful to have a written request and their response in writing.
2. Use the ESA Self-Help Kit — the Employment Standards Branch requires most people to try this step before filing a formal complaint. It walks you through calculating what's owed and writing a formal request to your employer.
3. File a complaint with the Employment Standards Branch if the self-help step doesn't resolve things. An officer can investigate, order your employer to pay, and issue a Determination (an enforceable decision).

Important things to know:

• Final wages are due within 48 hours of an employer ending your job, or within 6 days if you quit.
• There's a strict 6-month time limit to file a complaint from when wages were due, so don't wait too long.
• Complaints can be made anonymously in some circumstances, and it's illegal for an employer to retaliate against you for asserting your ESA rights.

See “If your employer has paid you” from Peoples Law School.

You can talk to a JES Legal Navigator (Ask a Human) about your employment issues or get immediate answers from our AI chatbot (Ask AI), which includes information from ESB.