Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of details about key sections of the ESA. It is for your details and employment assistance only. It is not a legal file. If you need information or specific language, please refer to the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide must not be used as or thought about legal guidance. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, employment collective arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re not sure about anything in this guide, please talk with a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

crucial illness leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work requirements poster: circulation requirements

equal spend for equal work

family caregiver leave

family medical leave

household obligation leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, eating periods and rest durations

transmittable illness emergency leave

licensing – temporary assistance agencies and employers

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete contracts

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of salaries

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

authorized leave

short-term help companies

termination of employment and temporary layoffs

ideas or gratuities

getaway.

composed policy on detaching from work.

composed policy on electronic monitoring of staff members.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are restricted from punishing employees in any method because the employee exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary aid companies are forbidden from penalizing task workers in any way due to the fact that the assignment worker worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing prospective workers who engage or use the employer’s services in any method for specific factors, consisting of asking the employer to comply with the Act or inquiring about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, customers of short-term assistance companies and employers who dedicate a reprisal can be:

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

– ordered to restore the worker or task worker (if the reprisal was devoted by an employer or client of a short-term assistance firm).

– bought to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

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

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.

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

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of contravention with a monetary penalty.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

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

Related Ontario laws include the:

Occupational Health And Wellness 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 include statutes on income tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

To find out more about federal laws, call the Government of Canada info 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 individuals and individuals or companies they work for, such as:

– employees and employers in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, post offices, radio and tv 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 signed up under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

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

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

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

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

– people who hold political, judicial, spiritual or chosen trade union workplaces.

– major junior ice hockey gamers who satisfy particular conditions connected to scholarships.

– people who meet the definition of business specialist or infotech consultant under the ESA if particular conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are prohibited from misclassifying employees as independent contractors, interns, volunteers or any other type of worker not covered by the ESA.

Learn more about worker misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has additional available 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 respecting the analysis, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

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