The CNESST closed my labour standards complaint, can I challenge it?
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Short answer
Yes, and the Act requires the CNESST to say so. Section 107 of the Act respecting labour standards: where it refuses to proceed with an inquiry or finds the complaint groundless, it notifies the complainant by registered mail, gives the reasons and informs the employee "of their right to apply for a review of the decision". The CNESST states the time limit: "they have 30 days to contest it by completing the Application for review of decision form", counted from receipt of the decision.
In detail
Two tracks carry the same word "review", and they do not follow the same rules. This one covers LABOUR STANDARDS complaints · the CNESST lists them as the wage complaint, the complaint concerning a prohibited practice, the complaint concerning dismissal without just and sufficient cause, the complaint concerning psychological or sexual harassment, the complaint concerning a difference in working conditions, and the complaint concerning the right to maintain employee status. The other track, employment injuries, is governed by sections 358 and 359 AIAOD, with its own time limits of 30 and 60 days.
The CNESST states the rule for this track in these words: "If the complaint is inadmissible, the CNESST notifies the person who filed the complaint and explains the reasons. If the person disagrees with the decision, they have 30 days to contest it by completing the Application for review of decision form. The CNESST has 30 days to respond." The starting point is the receipt of the decision · not the date it was signed, and not the date the complaint was filed.
The form is published in French as "Demande de révision de la décision · Normes du travail" (document 5072). It names the document where the required information is found: the notice of closure of the file received from the CNESST, which carries the file number the form asks for at the top, and whose receipt starts the 30 days.
The form also states what may accompany it: the documents that support the position, or any new fact that could change the decision.
What to document
The date each decision was RECEIVED · that is what starts the time limits, not the date printed on the letter. The pay slip, written by the employer and whose minimum content the law sets. The actual hours worked. And every written exchange, with its timestamp: a day where everything went normally is a non-event that nothing records for you.
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.
Open the application Up to 3 files, no card · see the plans
And to put it in order: our free tools · number your exhibits, set your facts in date order, request a copy of your file. No account, and nothing leaves your browser.
Official sources
- art. 107 de la Loi sur les normes du travail (RLRQ c N-1.1) · read on 2026-08-09
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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.