Payroll is more than just paying employees. It is about keeping up with compliance, making payroll deductions, calculating taxable benefits, reporting to your workers compensation board, updating your payroll account and so much more.  

Alongside federal regulations, such as needing to deduct EI premiums - what makes this process a little trickier is that each province has their own set of rules that differ from one another. So if you have a small business in Manitoba, it is important that you are familiar with the Manitoba labour laws, to ensure the payroll process is done within the regulations dictated by the province. 

By not adhering to these regulations, you could be at significant risk for paying more money down the line.

Manitoba Minimum Wage 

As of October 1, 2021, minimum wage in Manitoba is $11.95 per hour.  

All employees are entitled to minimum wage, unless they are excluded from legislation or are not covered under provincial employment standards. Certain types of employees that are excluded from minimum wage include: 

• Domestic workers that work less than 12 hours in a week
• Employees in an approved federal or provincial training program 
• Election officials, enumerators, and other temporary persons appointed under The Elections Act

The minimum wage rules in Manitoba apply to residential construction and building maintenance employees. Separate minimum wages rules govern rates for the industrial, heavy construction sector, and commercial and institutional sectors of the construction industry. To read up on the rules that apply to the construction industry, click here: Construction Industry, Heavy Wage Schedule and ICI Wage Schedule.

The minimum wage rate applies to all employees regardless of age or the number of hours worked. This also applies to students and part time employees. That being that, there are certain restrictions on the type of work people under the age of 18 can legally do. See the Young Employees page for more information.

Hours of Work

Standard hours of work cover 8 hours in a day and 40 hours in a week. If an employee works beyond these hours, overtime must be paid at 1 ½ times the employee’s regular wage rate. However, employees are only entitled to this overtime rate for work that their employer either requested, acknowledged, or authorized. In certain circumstances, employees are not entitled to overtime wages if they perform management duties. 

Overtime exemptions may also apply if an employee were to have significant control over their work hours and earned at least double the Manitoba Industrial Average Wage. 

Typically, most types of employees are paid for overtime, including part-time employees, students, and minimum-wage earners.

All employees are entitled to an unpaid 30 minute break after 5 hours of consecutive work. And must receive a rest period of 24 consecutive hours per week. 

In Manitoba, employers and their employees can enter into a written agreement that changes the standard of hours worked. The agreement can dictate that a new schedule can cycle up to a maximum of 12 weeks. However, it must always average back to 40 hours per week. Such agreements do not need the approval of Employment Standards to be enacted.

Workers Compensation 

The Workers Compensation Board Manitoba is there to help business owners support injured employees in their recovery and return to work. They do this by paying for expenses related to the worker’s injury including medical care and lost wages. 

Coverage includes: 

• Protection from liability in the event of a worker injury
• Prevention services through industry-based safety programs (IBSPs) and SAFE Work MB
• Assistance with Return to Work plans
• Wages to your workers while they recover
• Extended healthcare benefits for a workplace injury

Reporting  the business’s payroll to the WCB is essential as those figures are used to calculate your WCB premium. Reporting must be submitted before February 28th, and must include the business’s actual payroll for the last calendar year and an estimated payroll for the current year. 

In submit your business’s annual payroll information, be sure to include the following: 

• Your account number and access code
• Your contact information
• Last year’s total actual payroll
• This year’s total estimated payroll 
• The total hours worked of all employees for last year
• Last year’s gross payroll, only in the event any of your workers earned more than $127,00 in 2020

Payroll Remittances and Income Tax Deductions Manitoba

The tax table that you use will be determined by your employee’s province or territory of employment. Should your employees report to work at your place of business, the province or territory of employment is that in which the business is located. For example, if you require your employee(s) work in Manitoba then you can use the Manitoba provincial tax table. 

If your employees are not required to report to your place of business for work, then the province or territory of employment is the province or territory in which your business is located, and from where you pay your employees’ salaries.

For a full list of payroll deductions tables for Manitoba you can see this link. 

Provincial health 

The Health and Post Secondary Education Tax Levy (HE Levy) is a tax imposed on remuneration that is paid to employees. The HE Levy is paid by employers with a permanent establishment in Manitoba. Employers with total remuneration in a year of $1.5 million or less are exempted (see note below). Associated groups (associated corporations/certain corporate partnerships) must share the $1.5 million exemption based on the total of their combined yearly payroll.

The lists below will help you deduct CPP contributions as per federal regulations, as well as deduct EI premiums. 

Pay Statements

Employees must be paid at least two times a month and within 10 working days following the end of the pay period. At the same time, the pay period cannot be longer than 16 days. If the employee is terminated, employees must be paid within 10 working days from the date of termination for the hours they completed. 

The information on employee pay statements must include: 

• Wage rate and any rate changes
• Net pay
• Changes in rates or deduction amounts
• Total hours worked
• Gross earnings
• Overtime wages
• Itemized Deductions  

There are certain records that employers are required to keep and update/maintain for all employees. They are as follows:  

• Name, date of birth, address, and occupation
• The date the employee became employed 
• The regular wage rate and overtime wage rate at the start of employment, or whenever the wage rate changes 
• Regular and overtime hours worked, written separately and daily 
• The date in which the wages are paid, and the amount paid on each date 
• Wage deductions and the reasons for each deduction listed separately 
• The dates that general holidays are taken, the employees work hours on a general holiday, and the wages paid 
• The start and end dates of the employee’s annual vacations, the period in which the vacation pay was earned, and the date and amount of vacation wages paid 
• Overtime that is baked with a written agreement between employer and employee and the dates the employee takes the banked time off with pay, if applicable
• Total amount of any outstanding vacation wages at the time of the employments end, and the date in which the wages are paid to the employee. 
• Copies of any documentation covering maternity leave, parental leace, compassionate care leave or other types of leave, including applicable dates and number of leave days taken
• Termination date of employee
• Copies of employee work schedules 

Leave of Absence in Manitoba

In Manitoba, employers are not required to pay wages to employees while they are on leave. Provincial legislation only requires employers to provide time off and allows employees to return to their same positions when the leave has ended. This is applicable to all leaves. However, employers are free to give greater benefits than what the legislation outlines. 

Although the employer may not have to pay wages during leave, other federal programs may be able to provide income replacement benefits. Employees can contact the federal government to learn what types of leave provide income replacement. 

The only exception in which an employer is required to pay a portion of a leave applies to Domestic Violence Leave, as dictated by The Employment Standards Code. 

Termination Notice

Employers and employees do not need to give termination notice when the employee has been employed for less than 30 days. Employers are not allowed to extend or change this period unless it is negotiated in a collective agreement with a union. 

Employers notice of termination requirements

• Working for at least 30 days but less than one year: At least one weeks notice
• Working at least one year and less than three years: At least two weeks notice
• Working at least three years and less than five years: At least four weeks notice
• Working at least five years and less than 10 years: At least six weeks notice
• Working at least 10 years: At least eight weeks notice

Employers are allowed to pay the amount of wages employees would otherwise have received had they worked out the notice period (often called wages in lieu of notice).  

Employees that work the same hours each week will receive their regular earnings for wages in lieu of a notice. Employees that work varying hours each week are provided wages in lieu based on the average earnings for regular weekly hours worked over the previous 6 month period. It is important to note that overtimes wages and vacation wages are not added to these wages paid in lieu of notice. 

Employees notice of termination requirements

• Working at least 30 days but at less one year: one week
• Working at least one year: two weeks

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