Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a practical source of information about essential sections of the ESA. It is for your details and support only. It is not a legal file. If you require details or exact language, please describe the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide must not be utilized as or considered legal guidance. You might have higher rights under a work contract, collective arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re unsure about anything in this guide, please talk with a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

important illness leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment requirements poster: distribution requirements

equal spend for equivalent work

household caretaker leave

family medical leave

household obligation leave

filing a claim

hours of work, consuming durations and rest periods

emergency situation leave

licensing – short-lived help companies and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete agreements

organ donor employment leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and parental leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

short-lived assistance firms

termination of employment and temporary layoffs

ideas or gratuities

holiday.

written policy on detaching from work.

written policy on electronic monitoring of employees.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are restricted from penalizing employees in any method since the employee exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary assistance agencies are forbidden from punishing assignment staff members in any way due to the fact that the project staff member worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from penalizing prospective employees who engage or utilize the recruiter’s services in any method for specific reasons, consisting of asking the recruiter to adhere to the Act or inquiring about whether an individual holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, customers of temporary assistance firms and employers who devote a reprisal can be:

– bought to compensate the worker, task staff member or prospective employee.

– bought to restore the employee or assignment staff member (if the reprisal was dedicated by an employer or client of a short-term help firm).

– bought to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If an arrangement in an employment contract or another Act gives a worker a higher right or benefit than a minimum work standard under the ESA then that provision uses to the worker instead of the employment standard.

No waiving of rights

No worker can consent to waive or provide up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such arrangement is null and space.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can result in 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 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 concerns such as workplace health and employment security, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws include 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: employment 1-800-267-8097 (in the rest of Ontario).

– online at ServiceOntario.ca.

Federal laws impacting offices consist of statutes on income tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

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 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:

– staff members and employers in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, employment the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and television stations and inter-provincial railways.

– people working under a program approved by a college of applied 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 trainees who work under a work experience program authorized 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.

– law enforcement officer (except for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, employment which do use).

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

– people who hold political, judicial, religious or elected trade union workplaces.

– significant junior ice hockey gamers who satisfy particular conditions related to scholarships.

– individuals who satisfy the meaning of organization consultant or information innovation expert under the ESA if specific conditions are met.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Discover more about worker misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has additional resources available 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 interpretation, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

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