After how many hours do i get paid overtime?
Short answer
In Quebec, the standard work week is 40 hours. Hours worked beyond 40 in a week must be paid with a 50% premium on the usual hourly rate (ss. 52 and 55 of the Act respecting labour standards).
In detail
The threshold is 40 hours even if your usual schedule is 32 or 35 hours. Going from 35 to 38 hours in a week does not create overtime within the meaning of the Act: those hours are paid at the regular rate. The 50% premium applies starting with the 41st hour.
Instead of paying the premium, the employer may replace the overtime with paid time off equivalent to the hours plus the premium, but only at the employee's request or if a collective agreement or a decree provides for it.
Certain categories are excluded from the premium: managers, employees of a farming business, and certain situations provided for by regulation, in particular. The employer may also stagger hours on a basis other than the week — see the question on staggering.
What to document
Your actual hours day by day (start, end, unpaid breaks), the schedules you received, the pay stub matching each week, and any written request to work additional hours. The premium is shown week by week: what counts is the weekly total, not the monthly total.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
Related questions
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.