Guaranteed Hours Nanny Contracts in Canada: ESA Guide
Guaranteed hours in a nanny contract still require overtime to be calculated correctly. Learn the two legal options and how shift tracking protects you.
Nick at RoostPay
Your nanny agreed to guaranteed hours. On paper, that sounds like it should simplify payroll: one number, every week, no surprises. Then your partner’s shift runs long, your nanny covers an extra hour of pickup, and your “simple” guaranteed-hours contract turns into a question nobody wrote down an answer to: does overtime still apply on top of the guarantee, or did the guarantee already cover it?
This question comes up constantly in household employer circles, and the honest answer is that guaranteed hours and overtime are two separate obligations. One is a promise you made in the contract. The other is a provincial legal requirement that does not go away just because you also promised a weekly floor. This guide walks through how the two interact, the two legitimate ways employers structure the overtime side of a guaranteed-hours contract, and how to track shifts so you can prove either approach was followed correctly. For the broader clause-by-clause picture, start with our nanny employment contract guide.
What “guaranteed hours” actually means
Guaranteed hours are a weekly pay floor: you commit to paying for a set number of hours (commonly 35–45, depending on the role) whether or not your nanny actually works all of them that week. It is standard practice in domestic employment, and for good reason: it gives your nanny income stability and gives you a schedule to plan around.
Here is the part that trips people up: “guaranteed hours” is a term employers and nannies use in the industry, not a defined entitlement in any provincial Employment Standards Act (ESA). The ESA does not say anything about a “guarantee.” What the ESA does regulate, in every province, is overtime, and that obligation sits entirely separate from whatever floor you agreed to pay.
That means two things are simultaneously true in a guaranteed-hours contract:
- If actual hours worked fall below the guarantee, you still owe the full guaranteed amount.
- If actual hours worked exceed your province’s overtime threshold for that day or week, you owe overtime on those hours, calculated the normal way, regardless of what the guarantee was.
Those two rules do not cancel each other out. A guarantee is a floor, not a ceiling, and it does not substitute for the overtime calculation your province’s ESA requires.
The question parents keep asking: does overtime still apply?
Yes, in every province except where domestic workers are specifically exempt. The guaranteed-hours number in the contract has no bearing on whether overtime kicks in; only your province’s daily and weekly thresholds, and your nanny’s exemption status, decide that.
| Province | Weekly Overtime Threshold | Domestic Worker Overtime Status |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | After 44 hrs | Not exempt |
| British Columbia | After 40 hrs (plus daily OT after 8/12 hrs) | Not exempt |
| Alberta | No weekly threshold applies | Exempt (live-in and live-out domestic employees) |
| Quebec | After 40 hrs | Generally exempt for caregivers whose exclusive duty is child care |
| Prince Edward Island | After 44 hrs | Caregivers generally exempt in most arrangements, confirm with an employment lawyer |
| Manitoba | After 40 hrs | Live-out domestics generally exempt; live-in domestics generally follow standard rules |
For your province’s full rule and any exceptions that apply to your specific arrangement, see the applicable employment standards authority: Ontario’s ESA overtime guide, BC Employment Standards overtime pay, Alberta domestic employee exceptions, CNESST overtime rules, the PEI Employment Standards overtime and averaging guide, or Manitoba Employment Standards averaging agreements. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm the classification that applies to your household before you lock overtime language into a contract. For more on how non-exempt provinces calculate the math week to week, see our guide to variable-shift nanny payroll.
The two legitimate ways to handle overtime in a guaranteed-hours contract
Employers often ask whether they can just “build” overtime into the guaranteed rate so they don’t have to calculate it separately every week. In most provinces, you cannot. An employer and employee cannot agree that the employee gives up their statutory right to overtime pay, and an employer cannot lower the regular wage rate to disguise overtime that would otherwise be owed. That leaves two options:
Option 1: Pay the guarantee as a floor, and pay actual hours (including overtime) on top
This is the default, and it is what most provinces require unless you have a specific written agreement in place. Every pay period:
- If actual hours worked are at or below the guaranteed amount, pay the guaranteed amount.
- If actual hours worked exceed the guaranteed amount, pay for the actual hours worked, with overtime calculated against your province’s threshold for any hours that cross it.
This option requires accurate hours tracking every single week, because the comparison between “guaranteed” and “actual” has to happen every pay period, not once at contract signing.
Option 2: A written hours-averaging agreement (where your province allows it)
A small number of provinces let employers and employees agree, in writing, to average hours of work over a multi-week period for the purpose of calculating overtime, instead of calculating it week by week. This is a real, specific legal mechanism, available in British Columbia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba (rules and maximum averaging periods differ by province). It does not eliminate overtime; it changes the time window the calculation is measured against, and strict requirements apply (a signed written agreement, defined start and expiry dates, a stated weekly schedule, and in most provinces a cap on how long the averaging period can run).
An hours-averaging agreement is a meaningfully different tool from a guaranteed-hours floor, and the two can be used together: you can guarantee a weekly pay floor and also have an averaging agreement in place for how overtime on top of that floor gets calculated, if your nanny’s role and province allow it. What you cannot do is skip the calculation altogether by assuming the guaranteed rate already “covers” overtime; without an averaging agreement, overtime is still due every week it is earned.
RoostPay’s contract builder walks you through documenting a guaranteed-hours arrangement, and in BC, Ontario, PEI, and Manitoba lets you add a written hours-averaging agreement to the same contract when your province allows it, with the averaging period, schedule pattern, and expiry date built in and signed by both parties.
Why shift tracking is the part people skip
Whichever option applies to you, the contract only tells you what should happen. Payroll each week depends on knowing what actually happened, which means you need:
- A record of scheduled hours (what you planned for that week)
- A record of worked hours (what was actually clocked, with start and end times)
- A comparison against both the guaranteed floor and your province’s overtime threshold, done every pay period
This is exactly the gap that breaks down in a spreadsheet or a shared notes app. One missed late pickup, one unlogged extra hour, and the comparison between guaranteed hours and actual hours silently goes wrong, usually in the direction of underpaying overtime. Our contracted-vs-actual-hours breakdown covers why this specific comparison is where DIY payroll tracking tends to fail first.
RoostPay’s scheduling tools separate a scheduled shift (the plan) from a worked shift (actual clocked hours, submitted for your approval before it reaches payroll), so the comparison against the guaranteed hours in the contract happens automatically on every pay run, with the correct provincial overtime rule applied.
What to put in the contract itself
However you structure the overtime side of the arrangement, your written contract should state:
- The guaranteed weekly hours (or guaranteed weekly pay) your nanny is entitled to regardless of actual hours worked
- The province’s overtime threshold that applies to the role, and whether an exemption applies
- Whether overtime will be calculated weekly (the default) or under a signed hours-averaging agreement, if your province allows one and you intend to use it
- How actual hours will be logged and approved each pay period
For the rest of what a compliant Canadian nanny contract needs beyond the hours clause, see our complete nanny employment contract guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are guaranteed hours in a nanny contract?
Guaranteed hours are a weekly minimum amount of pay you commit to in the contract, regardless of how many hours your nanny actually works that week. It is a contractual practice employers use for income stability, not a defined entitlement under any provincial Employment Standards Act.
Does overtime still apply if I guarantee my nanny’s hours?
Yes. A guaranteed-hours arrangement sets a pay floor; it does not change your province’s overtime rules. If actual hours worked exceed your province’s daily or weekly threshold, you owe overtime on those hours in addition to (or instead of, depending on the math) the guaranteed amount, unless your nanny’s role is exempt from overtime in your province.
Can I build overtime into a flat guaranteed-hours rate instead of calculating it each week?
Generally no. Most provincial Employment Standards Acts require overtime to be calculated and paid for the pay period in which it was earned, and an employer cannot have an employee waive that right. The one lawful exception is a written hours-averaging agreement, available in a handful of provinces, which changes the time window used for the overtime calculation, not whether overtime is owed.
What is an hours-averaging agreement and where is it available?
An hours-averaging agreement is a written agreement between employer and employee to average hours of work over a set multi-week period for the purpose of calculating overtime, instead of calculating it every single week. It is available in British Columbia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba, each with its own rules on averaging length, required contents, and renewal.
How do I track whether my nanny’s actual hours exceeded their guaranteed hours?
You need shift-level records: a scheduled shift for planned hours and a worked shift for what actually happened, compared against the guaranteed floor and your province’s overtime threshold every pay period. A notebook or spreadsheet can technically do this, but any missed entry produces an incorrect pay stub and, eventually, an incorrect T4.
A guaranteed-hours contract is only as good as the shift records behind it. Get both sides right, the guarantee and the overtime calculation, and you remove the single most common compliance gap we see in household payroll.
Ready to put your guaranteed-hours contract on autopilot? Start your free 30-day trial and let RoostPay track scheduled vs. actual hours and calculate overtime correctly on every pay run.