Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of information about essential sections of the ESA. It is for your details and help just. It is not a legal document. If you need information or specific language, please describe the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide ought to not be utilized as or thought about legal recommendations. You might have greater rights under a work contract, cumulative contract, the common law or other legislation. If you’re not sure about anything in this guide, please talk to a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

critical illness leave

declared emergency leave

domestic or employment sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: circulation requirements

equal pay for equivalent work

family caregiver leave

family medical leave

household responsibility leave

filing a claim

hours of work, eating periods and pause

infectious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – momentary help companies and recruiters

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of incomes

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of employment

authorized leave

momentary help agencies

termination of employment and short-term layoffs

pointers or gratuities

vacation.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of employees.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are restricted from penalizing staff members in any way because the staff member worked out ESA rights.

Clients of momentary aid agencies are prohibited from punishing project staff members in any method because the project employee worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing prospective workers who engage or use the employer’s services in any method for specific reasons, consisting of asking the recruiter to adhere to the Act or investigating about whether an individual holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

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

– ordered to compensate the employee, task worker or potential employee.

– bought to renew the staff member or member (if the reprisal was devoted by a company or customer of a short-lived help firm).

– ordered to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

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

No waiving of rights

No employee can agree to waive or give up their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to get overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such arrangement is null and space.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can lead to enforcement action.

The kind 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 notice of contravention with a monetary penalty.

– an order to reinstate and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of only a few of the guidelines impacting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs problems such as workplace health and wellness, 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 information about other Ontario laws, contact ServiceOntario:

– Tel: 416-326-1234 (in Toronto).

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

– online at ServiceOntario.ca.

Federal laws impacting workplaces consist of statutes on income tax, employment work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

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

Who is not covered by the ESA?

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

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

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

– people 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 runs the school in which the student is registered.

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

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

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

– people who hold political, judicial, religious or chosen trade union offices.

– significant junior ice hockey gamers who satisfy certain conditions related to scholarships.

– people who fulfill the meaning of business consultant or info innovation expert 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 prohibited from misclassifying staff members as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other kind of worker not covered by the ESA.

Find out 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 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 available to answer your concerns 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.