Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a practical source of details about key areas of the ESA. It is for your info and assistance only. It is not a legal file. If you require details or employment specific language, please refer to the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide needs to not be utilized as or thought about legal suggestions. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, cumulative 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

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

important disease leave

declared emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work requirements poster: distribution requirements

equivalent pay for equal work

household caregiver leave

household medical leave

family obligation leave

suing

hours of work, consuming periods and pause

infectious disease emergency leave

licensing – temporary assistance agencies and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete agreements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

authorized leave

temporary help companies

termination of and short-term layoffs

ideas or gratuities

getaway.

written policy on detaching from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of employees.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are restricted from penalizing staff members in any method due to the fact that the staff member worked out ESA rights.

Clients of momentary assistance companies are forbidden from punishing assignment staff members in any method due to the fact that the assignment staff member exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from punishing prospective workers who engage or use the employer’s services in any method for particular 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 temporary help companies and recruiters who devote a reprisal can be:

– ordered to compensate the staff member, project staff member or potential worker.

– bought to restore the worker or project worker (if the reprisal was devoted by a company or client of a momentary aid firm).

– ordered to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

If a provision in an employment contract or another Act offers a worker a greater right or advantage than a minimum employment 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 employment quit their rights under the ESA (for instance, 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 result in 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 conflict with a financial charge.

– 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 federal legislation governs problems such as workplace health and security, 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.

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 work environments include statutes on income tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

To learn more 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 companies in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some people and individuals or organizations they work for, such as:

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

– individuals working under a program approved 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 authorized by the school board that operates the school in which the trainee is enrolled.

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

– law enforcement officer (except 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.

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

– major junior ice hockey players who satisfy certain conditions associated with scholarships.

– people who fulfill the meaning of service expert or infotech consultant under the ESA if specific conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Discover more about employee 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 recommendation 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 available to answer your concerns about the ESA. Information is readily available in numerous languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.