How long do i have to file a complaint with the cnesst?
Short answer
In Quebec, the time limit depends on the type of complaint: 45 days for a prohibited practice or for a dismissal without good and sufficient cause, 90 days where the penalty is connected with refusing to retire, 2 years for psychological or sexual harassment, and 1 year for a monetary complaint about amounts owed.
In detail
The monetary complaint (1 year) covers the amounts provided for by the Act respecting labour standards: wages, overtime, vacation pay, statutory holiday pay or termination pay. The time limit is calculated separately for each amount, from the date it became due. No seniority is required.
The complaint for a prohibited practice (45 days) targets a penalty connected with exercising a right. No seniority is required, and a presumption operates in the employee's favour. The complaint for dismissal without good and sufficient cause (45 days) requires 2 years of uninterrupted service.
The harassment complaint (2 years) is calculated from the last incident of the conduct, and requires no seniority. In health and safety matters the time limits are different: 6 months for an employment injury claim, 30 days for an application for review, 60 days to contest before the Tribunal administratif du travail (TAT, Quebec's labour tribunal).
These time limits are short and are calculated from a precise date. It is that starting date — the dismissal, the penalty, the last incident, the date an amount became due — that has to be established without ambiguity.
What to document
For each situation: the date the time limit starts and how you can establish it (a letter, an email, a message, a witness), the documents you received and the date you received them, and the date you sent your complaint together with its confirmation. A single date placed wrongly can close off a remedy that would otherwise have been admissible.
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
- Act respecting labour standards (CQLR, c. N-1.1) — Légis Québec
- CNESST — Recourses and grounds for complaints under the labour standards (PDF)
- Tribunal administratif du travail — Dismissal without good and sufficient cause
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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.