What is the time limit to file a complaint with the CNESST against my employer?
Short answer
In Quebec, a complaint for a prohibited practice and a complaint for dismissal without good and sufficient cause must be filed with the CNESST (Quebec's labour standards, health and safety board) within 45 days (ss. 123 and 124 of the Act respecting labour standards), while a complaint about psychological harassment must be filed within two years of the last incidence of that conduct (s. 123.7).
In detail
Three separate time limits live side by side in the same Act. Section 123 covers an employee who believes they were the victim of a prohibited practice: they must assert their rights with the CNESST (Quebec's labour standards, health and safety board) “within 45 days of the practice complained of”. Section 124 covers a person who has two years of uninterrupted service in the same enterprise and believes they were dismissed without good and sufficient cause: the complaint must be filed or mailed “within 45 days of the dismissal”.
Section 123.7 is much broader: two years from the last incidence of the psychological harassment. It is the last incidence that counts, not the first.
Section 115 also sets a one-year limitation period, running from each due date, for a civil action brought under the Act respecting labour standards — that is the period that applies in particular to claims for unpaid wages.
What to document
The exact date of the dismissal or of the measure, and for harassment, the date of each incident with what was said or done and who was present, plus the date of the last incidence. Keep emails, schedules, pay stubs and exchanges with human resources.
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Official sources
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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.