Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of information about key areas of the ESA. It is for your details and assistance only. It is not a legal file. If you need details or exact language, please describe the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide ought to not be used as or thought about legal guidance. You might have greater rights under an employment contract, collective agreement, the common law or other legislation. If you’re unsure about anything in this guide, please talk to an attorney.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

crucial disease leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or employment sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: distribution requirements

equal pay for equivalent work

household caregiver leave

household medical leave

family responsibility leave

suing

hours of work, eating durations and rest durations

infectious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – short-term aid companies and employment employers

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete contracts

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

authorized leave

momentary aid agencies

termination of work and short-term layoffs

pointers or gratuities

trip.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of employees.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are forbidden from punishing employees in any method since the worker worked out ESA rights.

Clients of short-lived assistance firms are restricted from punishing assignment employees in any method since the assignment employee exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing potential staff members who engage or utilize the recruiter’s services in any way for certain factors, consisting of asking the employer to comply with the Act or investigating about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, customers of momentary help firms and recruiters who commit a reprisal can be:

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

– purchased to reinstate the employee or assignment staff member (if the reprisal was committed by an employer or customer of a short-term assistance company).

– purchased to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Discover more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If a provision in an employment agreement or employment another Act provides a staff member a higher right or benefit than a minimum employment requirement under the ESA then that arrangement uses to the staff member instead of the work requirement.

No waiving of rights

No employee can consent to waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for example, 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 upon which arrangement of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of conflict with a financial penalty.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

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

Related Ontario laws include 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.

affecting workplaces consist of statutes on earnings tax, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

For more details about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details line at 1-800-622-6232.

Who is not covered by the ESA?

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

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

– people working under a program approved by a college of used arts and technology or employment university.

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

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

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

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

– 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, religious or elected trade union offices.

– major junior ice hockey players who satisfy specific conditions connected to scholarships.

– people who fulfill the definition of organization specialist or info innovation consultant under the ESA if specific conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Find out more about staff member misclassification.

Additional resources

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

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

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