Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

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

This guide ought to not be utilized as or thought about legal suggestions. You might have higher rights under an employment agreement, collective contract, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re not sure about anything in this guide, job please speak to a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

critical disease leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment requirements poster: circulation requirements

equivalent pay for equal work

household caretaker leave

household medical leave

household duty leave

suing

hours of work, consuming durations and pause

contagious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – momentary aid agencies and employers

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of salaries

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of employment

authorized leave

temporary aid firms

termination of work and job short-term layoffs

ideas or gratuities

vacation.

written policy on detaching from work.

written policy on electronic monitoring of staff members.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are restricted from punishing employees in any method because the staff member exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary aid agencies are forbidden from penalizing project employees in any way due to the fact that the task staff member worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from penalizing prospective staff members who engage or utilize the in any way for specific reasons, consisting of asking the recruiter to abide by the Act or making questions about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, clients of momentary help companies and employers who dedicate a reprisal can be:

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

– bought to reinstate the worker or assignment staff member (if the reprisal was devoted by an employer or client of a momentary assistance firm).

– purchased to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

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

No waiving of rights

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

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.

The type of enforcement action that can be taken depends upon which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notice of conflict with a financial penalty.

– an order to reinstate and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA includes just a few of the rules affecting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and wellness, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws consist of the:

Occupational Health And job Wellness Act.

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.

Labour Relations Act, 1995.

Pay Equity Act.

Human Rights Code.

For additional information 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 affecting workplaces include statutes on income tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

To find out more about federal laws, call the Government of Canada info line at 1-800-622-6232.

Who is not covered by the ESA?

Most staff members 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:

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

– people working under a program approved by a college of applied arts and innovation or university.

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

– secondary school trainees who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that runs the school in which the trainee is enrolled.

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

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

– 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, spiritual or elected trade union workplaces.

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

– individuals who meet the definition of business expert or infotech consultant under the ESA if specific conditions are fulfilled.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Find out more about employee misclassification.

Additional resources

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

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

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