Personnel d'entretien

Who is concerned with this section?

Do you own or manage a building? How does this affect you?

The Parity Committee for the Building Services, Montreal Region, has been responsible for enforcing the Decree respecting building service employees for almost 50 years.

This Decree defines the minimum working conditions that building service employers must offer their employees. These include wages, vacations, holidays, sick leaves, and a Group Retirement Plan (RRSP).

The Parity Committee: a reference for building administrators

Every building service employer must offer his personnel the working conditions provided by the Decree, which are superior to the minimum standards of the Act Respecting Labour Standards. These obligations have an effect on the maintenance costs for your building, but, in return, they encourage quality and stability of the personnel.

Every building service employer must also comply with the regulation related to the Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees. The employer must record with the Parity Committee, declare his employees and pay the levy according to the regulation.

Most of the building service employers know the regulation applying to this industry and comply with it. You may ask the building service contractor in your building if he is operating within the established regulation.

Since its foundation in 1976, one of the Parity Committee’s goal is to support an equitable competition in this industry.

Get informed. It’s clearly to your advantage!

The application of
the decree by the Parity Committee

It is important to know that the Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees states the Parity Committee’s rights and privileges in regards with supervising the observance of the Decree. Since the provisions of the Decree are public policy (article 11 of the Law), they apply to all entities or person concerned directly or indirectly by its application.

In 1994, the Supreme Court of Canada stated that the jurisdiction of a Parity Committee applies to all employers, even those who are not directly subject to the Decree. The Court also specified that a decree applies according to the nature of the work performed, and not according to the nature of the company or the employer.

Moreover, in 2006, in a decision regarding the inquiry powers of another organization, the Supreme Court decided that, for efficiency purposes and for the public interest, they must be extended to third parties.

Article 22 e) of an Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees states that the Parity Committee has the authority to question any building service employee or employer at the place of work, this means in the building itself. The owner or manager of the building, and even the security employees or companies in this building, have the obligation to collaborate and not to obstruct the inspection. They must allow the inspector to access the building may it be in the daytime or nighttime. The inspectors from the Parity Committee must be able to question the building service employees when they perform their tasks.

The Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees also states the obligation to collaborate in the inquiries of the Parity Committee by providing all information deemed necessary in regards with the application of the law or the Decree (article 22 e). It happens frequently that such inquiries require a copy of the building service contract, or of the in and out register of the building. Based on Article 33 of the law, an offence occurs when refusing or neglecting to provide the information required for the application of the law.

You have any question regarding your obligation as a building manager? Contact the Parity Committee to know more.