Flight Attendants’ Remuneration Act

Bill C-250, called the Flight Attendants’ Remuneration Act, would change the Canada Labour Code to require airlines to pay flight attendants for more of the time they actually spend working. Specifically, when calculating an employee's paid working hours, employers would have to count time spent on pre-flight and post-flight duties, such as helping passengers board and disembark and doing cabin and passenger safety checks. It would also require employers to count time spent completing mandatory training programs, and time the employee is required to be at the workplace and available to the employer, including during flight delays, whether or not those delays are the employer's fault.

The bill also sets a minimum pay standard for this time: employers must pay flight attendants at least their regular hourly wage rate for all of these activities. In effect, this closes a gap where flight attendants have often only been paid for time in the air, by ensuring ground-based and delay-related work time is also compensated at no less than their normal wage rate.

This bill amends the Canada Labour Code to require employers to count flight attendants' pre-flight and post-flight duties, training time, and on-call time as paid working hours.

• New obligation on employers — employers must include, in calculating an employee's paid working time under section 169 of the Code, time spent on pre-flight and post-flight duties (aircraft security, passenger service, embarking/disembarking, safety checks), time spent completing mandatory training programs, and time spent at the workplace on call and at the employer's disposal, including during flight delays regardless of whether the delay was within the employer's control.
• Wage rate set — employers must pay flight attendants for this time at a rate not less than the employee's regular rate of wages.
• Scope of application — the obligations apply specifically to employees who are flight attendants, under a new Division I.01 of the Canada Labour Code.
• No new body or office created — the bill does not establish any new regulator, tribunal, or enforcement mechanism; it relies on the existing Canada Labour Code framework for enforcement and complaints.
• No further regulation-making power specified — the text does not delegate any additional rule-making authority to a minister or agency; the changes take effect directly through the amended statutory text.
• Oversight — the bill contains no reporting requirement, review clause, or sunset provision; it is a permanent amendment to the Code unless further amended by Parliament.