Reminder: Employment Standards Obligations for Articling Students and Principal Training Course
As articling student season approaches, we want to remind lawyers and students-at-law of a few obligations related to employment standards and principal training.
Practice Advisors regularly get asked whether articling students must be paid. The answer is YES.
Section 2 of the Employment Standards Code, RSA 2000, c E-9, states that the Code “applies to all employers and employees” except as exempted. Under neither the Code nor the accompanying Regulation are lawyers or articling students exempted from the basic minimum wage employment standards. Read more about Employment Standards Obligations for Articling Students.
Please also be reminded that lawyers who want to become a principal must complete the Principal Training Course before taking on a student-at-law. It is a good idea to complete the course before the student applies for student-at-law status to avoid disrupting their start date. Supervisors involved in secondments exceeding 30 days are required to complete the mandatory course prior to the secondment being approved by the Law Society.
We recommend that principals, prospective students-at-law and any lawyer considering becoming a principal review the principal eligibility requirements under Rule 55 of the Rules of the Law Society. We encourage prospective students-at-lawto consider an alternative articling arrangement in case their proposed principal does not meet the eligibility criteria.
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