Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of details about key areas of the ESA. It is for your details and assistance only. It is not a legal document. If you need details or precise language, please refer to the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide ought to not be used as or considered legal recommendations. You might have greater rights under an employment contract, cumulative arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re unsure about anything in this guide, please talk to a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

benefit strategies

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

important disease leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work requirements poster: circulation requirements

equivalent pay for equal work

family caregiver leave

household medical leave

family duty leave

filing a claim

hours of work, consuming durations and pause

contagious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – temporary aid companies and recruiters

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

ill leave

temporary assistance firms

termination of work and temporary layoffs

suggestions or gratuities

vacation.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

written policy on electronic monitoring of employees.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are prohibited from punishing staff members in any method due to the fact that the staff member exercised ESA rights.

Clients of temporary assistance companies are restricted from punishing task employees in any way because the task worker worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from punishing potential employees who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any way for employment certain reasons, employment including asking the employer to comply with the Act or making queries about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

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

– bought to compensate the worker, project employee or potential employee.

– bought to reinstate the worker or assignment worker (if the reprisal was dedicated by a company or customer of a momentary help agency).

– bought to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act provides a worker a higher right or advantage than a minimum employment standard under the ESA then that arrangement uses to the worker rather of the work requirement.

No waiving of rights

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

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can lead to enforcement action.

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

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of contravention with a financial penalty.

– an order to restore and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA includes only some of the rules impacting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns such as workplace health and wellness, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws consist of the:

Occupational Health And Wellness 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: employment 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, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

For additional information about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details 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 use to some people and the people or companies they work for, such as:

– employees and companies in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airline companies, banks, the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and television stations and inter-provincial railways.

– people working under a program authorized by a college of used arts and innovation or university.

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

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

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

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

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

– individuals who hold political, judicial, spiritual or chosen trade union offices.

– significant junior ice hockey players who meet specific conditions connected to scholarships.

– individuals who meet the meaning of service specialist or infotech expert under the ESA if specific conditions are fulfilled.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are restricted from misclassifying staff members as independent contractors, interns, volunteers or any other kind 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 employment Skills Development (MLITSD) has additional resources offered to assist you:

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

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