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 details and support just. It is not a legal file. If you need information or precise language, please describe the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide should not be used as or employment considered legal guidance. You might have greater rights under an employment agreement, collective arrangement, the common law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk with an attorney.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

advantage plans

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

critical disease leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment requirements poster: distribution requirements

equivalent spend for equivalent work

family caregiver leave

household medical leave

family duty leave

suing

hours of work, consuming periods and pause

contagious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – short-lived assistance agencies and recruiters

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of salaries

pregnancy and parental leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of employment

ill leave

momentary help agencies

termination of work and short-term layoffs

suggestions or gratuities

trip.

composed policy on detaching from work.

written policy on electronic monitoring of staff members.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are forbidden from punishing staff members in any way because the staff member exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary help firms are forbidden from penalizing task employees in any method due to the fact that the task worker worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from penalizing potential staff members who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any method for specific factors, including asking the recruiter to adhere to the Act or making questions about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, clients of short-term assistance firms and recruiters who devote a reprisal can be:

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

– ordered to reinstate the staff member or task employee (if the reprisal was devoted by an employer or client of a short-term assistance agency).

– ordered to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

No employee can consent to waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for employment instance, employment the right to get overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such arrangement 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 arrangement 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 includes only some of the rules affecting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs problems such as workplace health and safety, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws include the:

Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.

Labour Relations Act, employment 1995.

Pay Equity Act.

Human Rights Code.

For more details 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 affecting offices include 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 staff members and companies in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not use to some people and the people or organizations 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 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 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 enrolled.

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

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

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

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

– major junior employment ice hockey gamers who satisfy specific conditions related to scholarships.

– people who satisfy the meaning of company consultant or details technology expert under the ESA if specific conditions are met.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Find out more about worker misclassification.

Additional resources

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

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

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