BC minimum wage and overtime for restaurant staff (2026)

Updated October 13, 2026. A summary for planning, not legal, tax or payroll advice. Check the official source before you rely on it.

The BC minimum wage in 2026

Who	Minimum as of June 1, 2026
Most employees, including servers, bartenders, baristas, cooks and dishwashers	$18.25 an hour
Liquor servers	$18.25 an hour (the separate lower rate ended June 1, 2021)
App-based delivery and ride-hail workers (online platform workers)	$21.89 per hour of engaged time, plus a distance allowance

Since 2024, BC raises minimum wages every June 1 by the change in the BC Consumer Price Index for the year before, rounded to the nearest 5 cents for the general rate. If the index falls, the wage stays where it is. So the next change, if any, comes on June 1, 2027, and the province announces it in the spring. Budget for it when you plan next year’s menu prices. (source)

Minimum wage is the floor for every hour worked, before tips. Tips belong to the employee (or to a tip pool shared among employees) and can’t be used to top up wages. See tip pooling rules in BC.

Daily overtime

Hours 1 to 8 in a day: regular pay.
Hours over 8, up to 12: time-and-a-half (1.5x).
Hours over 12: double time (2x).

Two shifts in the same day add up: a 6-hour lunch and a 4-hour dinner shift for the same cook is a 10-hour day, with 2 hours at time-and-a-half. (source)

Weekly overtime

Hours over 40 in a week are paid at time-and-a-half, even if no single day went over 8. The week runs Sunday to Saturday, and only the first 8 hours worked each day count toward the 40, so the same hour is never paid as daily and weekly overtime twice. (source)

Worked examples

A barista on $19.00 an hour

Monday to Saturday: 8, 7, 8, 8, 7 and 7 hours, 45 hours in total. No day goes over 8, so there’s no daily overtime. Weekly: 45 minus 40 is 5 hours at time-and-a-half (this is the government’s own Example 2). Pay is 40 x $19.00 = $760.00, plus 5 x $28.50 = $142.50, so $902.50 for the week, before deductions.

A line cook on $22.00 an hour with a long Friday

8, 10, 6 and 13 hours: 37 hours, so no weekly overtime. Daily: the 10-hour day has 2 hours at 1.5x; the 13-hour day has 4 hours at 1.5x and 1 hour at 2x. That’s 30 regular hours ($660.00), 6 hours at $33.00 ($198.00) and 1 hour at $44.00 ($44.00): $902.00 in total. Moving 3 hours from the 13-hour day to the 6-hour day (8, 10, 9 and 10 hours) gives 32 regular hours and 5 at 1.5x: $869.00, saving $33.00 for the same 37 hours.

Rules that change overtime without anyone noticing

Rest between shifts. Employees need at least 8 hours off between shifts. Hours worked inside that window count toward the day’s total, which usually turns them into overtime. A close at 11 pm and an open at 6 am does exactly that.
Weekly rest. At least 32 hours in a row off each week. If someone works during it, those hours are paid at time-and-a-half.
Minimum daily pay. Anyone who reports for work is paid for at least 2 hours, or 4 if they were scheduled for more than 8, with exceptions such as being unfit to work. (source)
Averaging agreements. A written averaging agreement can spread hours over up to 4 weeks with different overtime math. It has to meet the conditions on the official page.
Banked overtime. An employee can ask in writing to bank overtime instead of being paid for it right away, and later take it as pay or paid time off.
Managers. Special rules apply to managers. Whether someone counts as a manager depends on what they actually do, not their title; check the official page before you treat a shift lead as one.

Keeping overtime in check when you build the schedule

Build the week around each person’s 8-hour days and 40-hour week first, then add extra hours where they cost least.
Look at the Saturday close and Sunday open together: that’s where the 8-hour rest rule breaks most often.
Count both halves of a split day as one day.
Check labour cost as a percentage of forecast sales for each day, not just the week total. See labour cost percentage.
Budget stat holidays separately: see BC stat holiday pay.

How Tasti Desk helps

Tasti Desk’s schedule costs every shift as you place it, including time-and-a-half after 8 hours, double time after 12, weekly overtime after 40 and stat days, and flags less than 8 hours between shifts, a week with no 32-hour rest and shifts under 2 hours. Labour % of forecast sales shows per day. The thresholds are BC defaults the owner can edit, and the pay shown is a planning estimate, not payroll.