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 information and assistance only. It is not a legal file. If you require information or exact language, please describe the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide needs to not be used as or thought about legal recommendations. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, cumulative contract, 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

crucial illness leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: circulation requirements

equal spend for equivalent work

family caretaker leave

household medical leave

family responsibility leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, eating periods and rest periods

transmittable disease emergency situation leave

licensing – temporary help firms and employers

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete contracts

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and adult leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

momentary help agencies

termination of work and short-lived layoffs

pointers or gratuities

trip.

composed policy on detaching from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of workers.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are restricted from penalizing staff members in any way due to the fact that the employee worked out ESA rights.

Clients of momentary help firms are restricted from penalizing task workers in any way due to the fact that the assignment employee exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from punishing prospective workers who engage or utilize the recruiter’s services in any method for specific reasons, job including asking the employer to abide by the Act or making queries about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, job customers of short-lived help agencies and recruiters who dedicate a reprisal can be:

– ordered to compensate the staff member, task staff member or potential employee.

– purchased to reinstate the worker or job assignment staff member (if the reprisal was dedicated by a company or customer of a momentary help firm).

– ordered to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act offers a staff member a greater right or advantage than a minimum employment standard under the ESA then that arrangement applies to the employee instead of the employment standard.

No waiving of rights

No worker can accept waive or job quit their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to get overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such arrangement is null and space.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can lead to enforcement action.

The kind 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 breach 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 issues 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 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 income tax, employment insurance 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 employees and job employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some people and individuals or companies they work for, such as:

– staff members and employers in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, job post offices, radio and television stations and .

– individuals working under a program authorized by a college of applied arts and innovation or university.

– people working under a program that is authorized by a career college registered 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.

– policeman (except for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do apply).

– inmates taking part 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 chosen trade union workplaces.

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

– people who fulfill the definition of business specialist or infotech specialist under the ESA if certain conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Find out more about staff member misclassification.

Additional resources

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

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary 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 available to answer your concerns about the ESA. Information is offered in lots of languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.