Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a practical source of information about crucial sections of the ESA. It is for your information and support just. It is not a legal document. If you need details or precise language, please describe the ESA itself and its regulations.

This guide should not be used as or thought about legal advice. You might have greater rights under a work agreement, collective arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk to a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

critical health problem leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment requirements poster: circulation requirements

equal pay for equal work

household caretaker leave

household medical leave

family duty leave

suing

hours of work, eating periods and rest periods

infectious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – momentary assistance firms and employers

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of incomes

pregnancy and adult leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of employment

authorized leave

short-lived aid firms

termination of work and temporary layoffs

tips or gratuities

vacation.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic monitoring of employees.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are forbidden from penalizing staff members in any way due to the fact that the employee exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary assistance companies are restricted from penalizing project staff members in any method since the assignment employee worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing potential workers who engage or use the employer’s services in any way for referall.us specific factors, consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or inquiring about whether an individual holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, clients of temporary assistance agencies and employers who devote a reprisal can be:

– bought to compensate the employee, task staff member or prospective staff member.

– ordered to reinstate the worker or task worker (if the reprisal was dedicated by a company or customer of a short-term assistance agency).

– ordered to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Discover more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If a provision in an employment agreement or another Act gives an employee a greater right or advantage than a minimum employment standard under the ESA then that provision uses to the worker instead of the employment standard.

No waiving of rights

No employee can concur to waive or quit their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to get overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such contract is null and void.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can lead to enforcement action.

The type of enforcement action that can be taken depends on which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples consist of:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of conflict with a financial charge.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA includes just a few of the rules impacting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns such as workplace health and safety, 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.

To find out more 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 income tax, work insurance and the Canada Pension.

For more details 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 companies in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some people and individuals or companies they work for, such as:

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

– individuals working under a program authorized by a college of applied arts and innovation or university.

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

– secondary school trainees who work under a work experience program authorized by the school board that runs the school in which the student is registered.

– people who do community involvement under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.

– policeman (except for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do apply).

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

– individuals who hold political, judicial, religious or elected trade union offices.

– significant hockey players who satisfy certain conditions connected to scholarships.

– people who meet the definition of service consultant or details innovation consultant under the ESA if particular conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are restricted from misclassifying workers as independent specialists, interns, volunteers 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 readily available to help you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary recommendation source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting the analysis, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

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