Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of information about key sections of the ESA. It is for your details and assistance just. It is not a legal document. If you require information or precise language, please describe the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide ought to not be utilized as or thought about legal advice. You may have greater rights under an employment contract, collective contract, the common law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk with a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

advantage plans

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

critical disease leave

declared emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work requirements poster: circulation requirements

equal spend for equivalent work

family caregiver leave

household medical leave

household obligation leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, consuming durations and pause

contagious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – short-term help agencies and employers

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete agreements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and adult leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

short-lived assistance companies

termination of employment and temporary layoffs

ideas or gratuities

holiday.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic monitoring of workers.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are prohibited from penalizing employees in any way since the employee worked out ESA rights.

Clients of temporary assistance agencies are prohibited from punishing assignment workers in any way because the assignment employee worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing potential employees who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any way for certain reasons, consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or inquiring about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, customers of short-lived help agencies and recruiters who commit a reprisal can be:

– bought to compensate the worker, assignment worker or prospective employee.

– ordered to reinstate the employee or assignment employee (if the reprisal was devoted by a company or customer of a temporary aid agency).

– bought to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act gives an employee a greater right or advantage than a minimum work requirement under the ESA then that arrangement uses to the staff member instead of the work standard.

No waiving of rights

No employee can consent to waive or quit their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to receive overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such agreement is null and void.

Enforcement and referall.us compliance

Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.

The kind of enforcement action that can be taken depends upon which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of breach with a monetary charge.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA contains just a few of the rules impacting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns such as workplace health and security, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws consist of the:

Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.

Labour Relations Act, 1995.

Pay Equity Act.

Human Rights Code.

For more details about other Ontario laws, contact ServiceOntario:

– Tel: 416-326-1234 (in Toronto).

– Toll-free: 1-800-267-8097 (in the rest of Ontario).

– online at ServiceOntario.ca.

Federal laws impacting offices consist of statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.

To find out more about federal laws, call the Government of Canada information line at 1-800-622-6232.

Who is not covered by the ESA?

Most workers and employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some people and the people or organizations they work for, such as:

– workers and employers in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, post offices, radio and television stations and inter-provincial railways.

– people working under a program authorized by a college of applied arts and technology or university.

– individuals working under a program that is authorized by a career college registered under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

– secondary school trainees who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that operates the school in which the trainee is registered.

– individuals who do neighborhood involvement under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.

– law enforcement officer (other than for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do use).

– inmates taking part in work or rehabilitation programs, or individuals who work as part of a sentence or order of a court.

– people who hold political, judicial, religious or elected trade union workplaces.

– major junior ice hockey players who satisfy certain conditions associated with scholarships.

– people who fulfill the definition of business consultant or info technology consultant under the ESA if specific conditions are met.

For a complete listing of other people not governed by the ESA, please examine the ESA and its regulations.

Employee misclassification

Employers are forbidden from misclassifying workers as independent professionals, interns, or any other type of employee not covered by the ESA.

Discover more about worker misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has extra resources offered to help you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary referral source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards appreciating the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

– Staff at the Employment Standards Information Centre are offered to answer your questions about the ESA. Information is readily available in lots of languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.