Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA) outlines who is -and isn’t- entitled to overtime pay. You might be surprised to learn that professional engineers are currently exempt. That means many engineers, particularly those early in their careers, can work well beyond the standard 44-hour work week without receiving any additional compensation.
Is this fair? Is it outdated? Should OSPE take a stance?
We’ve been asked whether OSPE has a position on this, and we want to hear what you think.
This issue touches on workplace fairness, compensation equity, and quality of life, especially for junior engineers who may feel pressure to take on excessive workloads without additional pay.
At the same time, some employers and senior professionals argue that the exemption reflects the unique, flexible, and often self-directed nature of engineering work. Others point to concerns about cost and administrative complexity.
In short, there’s no easy answer, but it’s a conversation worth having.
We’re exploring whether this is a policy area where OSPE should engage more deeply. Could we play a role in:
- Advocating for more equitable treatment of early-career engineers?
- Exploring flexible models that balance fair compensation with professional autonomy?
- Shedding light on the realities of engineering workloads across different sectors?
If this resonates with you—or if you have strong views either way—we want to know.
Reply to advocacy@ospe.on.ca or join the conversation on social using the hashtag #EngineersAndEquity.
Together, we can shape a profession that values not just technical excellence, but the people behind it.
Comments (2)
I served in the military for nearly 20 years, where there is no overtime, ever, wether you are working in a unit, studying on a carreer course or deployed on opérations and operational training exercices in Canada or abroad, but that is understood from your volunteer initial enrôlement. However, in the private sector and in the public service, all work should be renumerated, either in money, shares or compensatory Time off. As an engineering Proj offr and Proj mgr in the private sector in the USA and finally in the federal public service, I was fortunate to have access to and was paid for overtime ( in cash or Time) when projection requirements and schedule needed it. Yes, there needs Mgt oversight and approvals, and Young Engrs gain expérience and hard lessons by perservering through overtime, but rémunération should be somewhat consistently and fairly applied throughout the profession, especially when it is difficult to retain talent. (Apologies for autocorrection with French accents, reply is from small cell phone screen).
André Sirois, P. Eng.
I thought one of the tennets of Engineering, and part of the Oath, was “Fair wages for my work I will openly take.”
If an Engineer can be made to work unpaid overtime, then how is their wage “fair”? If you work 48 hours and get paid for 40, you just took a serious pay cut.
Why it is expected that Engineers would accept being forced into a situation like this is beyond me. Work without compensation only leads to resentment and a lower quality of work being performed due to frustration and fatigue.
Engineers are well-educated technical specialists. Why should we expect them to work for free?
The opportunities for abuse at the hands of employers wanting to “do more with less” in this economic climate are many.
Work without compensation is serfdom at best.
What happened to Equal Pay for Equal Work?
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