Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of info about essential areas of the ESA. It is for your info and assistance just. It is not a legal file. If you require details or specific language, please describe the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide must not be utilized as or thought about legal suggestions. You might have higher rights under an employment agreement, collective agreement, the common law or employment other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk with a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

crucial illness leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: distribution requirements

equivalent spend for equivalent work

family caretaker leave

household medical leave

family responsibility leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, eating durations and pause

infectious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – short-term assistance agencies and employers

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete agreements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of incomes

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

sick leave

short-term aid companies

termination of work and short-term layoffs

tips or gratuities

trip.

written policy on disconnecting from work.

written policy on electronic tracking of employees.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are forbidden from penalizing employees in any way since the employee exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary assistance firms are forbidden from penalizing task workers in any way because the task worker exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing prospective staff members who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any method for particular factors, including asking the employer to comply with the Act or inquiring about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, clients of short-lived assistance firms and employers who commit a reprisal can be:

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

– bought to renew the staff member or project employee (if the reprisal was committed by an employer or employment client of a momentary assistance company).

– ordered to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

No staff member can agree to waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to receive overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such agreement is null and space.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.

The kind 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 notice of breach with a financial penalty.

– an order to restore and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA includes just some of the rules impacting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and employment federal legislation governs concerns such as workplace health and safety, employment 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 learn 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 work environments consist of statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance and the Canada Pension.

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

Who is not covered by the ESA?

Most employees and companies in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not use to some people and individuals or organizations they work for, such as:

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

– 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 profession 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 student is enrolled.

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

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

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

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

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

– people who satisfy the meaning of or infotech consultant under the ESA if particular conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are restricted from misclassifying staff members as independent contractors, interns, volunteers or any other kind of employee not covered by the ESA.

Discover more about staff member 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 recommendation source for employment the policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting the analysis, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

– Staff at the Employment Standards Information Centre are readily available to address your questions about the ESA. Information is available in many languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.