Act to ensure the protection of trainees in the workplace

Since August 24, 2022, trainees have been benefiting from greater protection further to amendments made to the Act respecting labour standards. Pursuant to the Act to ensure the protection of trainees in the workplace and under certain conditions, trainees are granted:

1. The right to be absent from the training environment on certain statutory holidays;
2. The right to be absent from the training environment owing to sickness or for family or parental reasons;
3. The right to a training environment exempt from psychological harassment, including such behaviour in the form of verbal comments, actions or gestures of a sexual nature;
4. Protection from reprisals taken against them by an employer, educational institution or professional order or any agent thereof because of the exercise of a right; and
5. Recourse before the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail and before the Administrative Labour Tribunal if one of their rights provided for by this Act has not been respected. 

The Order is required to take reasonable measures to ensure that the success of a trainee’s training or a trainee’s obtention of a permit required for the practice of a profession is not compromised because of the exercise of a right provided for by the Act.

Whether you are a student, candidate for the profession, mentor, training principal, manager or partner in an organization offering practical experience to candidates for the profession, it is important to take note of these changes.

For more information on trainees’ rights and their training principals’ obligations, go to the CNESST web page on trainees’ working conditions (in French only).