Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of information about essential areas of the ESA. It is for your information and help only. It is not a legal document. If you require information or specific language, please describe the ESA itself and its regulations.

This guide must not be used as or considered legal guidance. You may have greater rights under a work contract, cumulative arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please speak to a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

vital illness leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: distribution requirements

equivalent pay for equal work

family caretaker leave

household medical leave

household obligation leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, eating durations and rest durations

transmittable disease emergency situation leave

licensing – temporary help firms and employers

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and employment adult leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

authorized leave

short-lived help companies

termination of employment and short-term layoffs

ideas or gratuities

vacation.

written policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of staff members.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are forbidden from penalizing workers in any method since the employee exercised ESA rights.

Clients of temporary aid are prohibited from punishing assignment workers in any way due to the fact that the project employee exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from punishing potential employees who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any way for certain factors, consisting of asking the recruiter to comply with the Act or making inquiries about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

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

– purchased to compensate the worker, project employee or prospective worker.

– ordered to renew the worker or assignment employee (if the reprisal was dedicated by a company or customer of a short-term assistance firm).

– bought to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

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

No waiving of rights

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

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can lead to enforcement action.

The kind of enforcement action that can be taken depends upon which arrangement 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 renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA includes only a few of the guidelines impacting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and security, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws consist of 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.

Federal laws impacting offices include statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

For additional information about federal laws, call the Government of Canada information 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 people and the people or organizations they work for, such as:

– workers and employers in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airlines, 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 approved by a profession college signed up 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 student is registered.

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

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

– prisoners taking part 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 employment chosen trade union workplaces.

– major junior ice hockey gamers who meet specific conditions associated with scholarships.

– individuals who satisfy the meaning of organization specialist or employment info innovation consultant under the ESA if certain conditions are met.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are forbidden from misclassifying workers as independent specialists, 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, Training and employment 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 policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

– Staff at the Employment Standards Information Centre are offered to answer your questions 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.