Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of info about crucial areas of the ESA. It is for your info and help 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 job considered legal recommendations. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, cumulative contract, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re not sure about anything in this guide, please speak to an attorney.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

important health problem leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: circulation requirements

equivalent spend for equal work

household caregiver leave

family medical leave

family obligation leave

suing

hours of work, eating periods and pause

infectious disease emergency leave

licensing – short-term aid companies and employers

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and parental leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

sick leave

short-term help firms

termination of work and short-lived layoffs

pointers or gratuities

vacation.

composed policy on detaching from work.

composed policy on electronic of workers.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are restricted from penalizing workers in any method since the worker worked out ESA rights.

Clients of momentary aid firms are restricted from punishing assignment workers in any way because the assignment worker exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from punishing potential staff members who engage or use the employer’s services in any method for specific reasons, consisting of asking the recruiter to abide by the Act or investigating about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, clients of momentary aid firms and employers who dedicate a reprisal can be:

– bought to compensate the employee, project employee or potential employee.

– purchased to renew the worker or task employee (if the reprisal was devoted by a company or client of a short-lived aid firm).

– purchased to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

No employee can concur to waive or provide up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to receive 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 type 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 notification of conflict with a monetary charge.

– an order to restore and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of just a few of the rules affecting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns such as workplace health and wellness, 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.

To find out more 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 offices include statutes on earnings tax, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

For additional information about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details 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 apply to some individuals and the people or organizations they work for, job such as:

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

– individuals working under a program approved by a college of used arts and innovation or university.

– people 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 authorized by the school board that runs the school in which the trainee is registered.

– individuals who do neighborhood participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.

– law enforcement officer (other than for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do apply).

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

– individuals who hold political, judicial, spiritual or elected trade union workplaces.

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

– individuals who meet the meaning of service expert or infotech specialist under the ESA if certain conditions are fulfilled.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are forbidden from misclassifying employees as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other type of employee not covered by the ESA.

Learn more about worker misclassification.

Additional resources

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

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and job Interpretation Manual is the primary recommendation source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards appreciating the interpretation, administration and job 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 numerous languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.