Bill 201: Employment Standards (Protecting Workers’ Pay) Amendment Act, 2025

This bill directly affects Alberta businesses in hospitality, food service, retail, and other service industries — think restaurant owners, café operators, hotel managers, and shop owners who employ front-line staff paid at or near minimum wage. Any business where customers tip — servers, bartenders, delivery workers, hairstylists — will need to update how they handle gratuities, including putting any tip-pooling arrangements in writing and ensuring they never pocket or deduct from those amounts. Employers of all sizes are touched, but smaller operations running tight margins (a family-run diner, a small retail shop) will feel the wage cost increases most acutely as minimum pay climbs $2/hour over two years. Businesses that previously relied on a youth or student minimum wage to keep labour costs down will no longer be able to do so, since age-based or student-status wage tiers are effectively prohibited.