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 details and help only. It is not a legal file. If you require information or precise language, please refer to the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide should not be used as or considered legal suggestions. You might have higher rights under a work agreement, collective arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk to a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

critical illness leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment requirements poster: distribution requirements

equal pay for equal work

family caregiver leave

household medical leave

household obligation leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, eating durations and rest durations

transmittable disease emergency leave

licensing – momentary assistance companies and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete contracts

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of salaries

pregnancy and adult leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

sick leave

short-term aid companies

termination of employment and temporary layoffs

tips or gratuities

vacation.

written policy on disconnecting from work.

written policy on electronic tracking of employees.

Reprisals are restricted

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

Clients of short-term help companies are prohibited from punishing project staff members in any way because the project worker worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from penalizing prospective workers who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any method for particular 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, clients of momentary help agencies and employers who devote a reprisal can be:

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

– ordered to reinstate the employee or project staff member (if the reprisal was committed by a company or customer of a short-lived help agency).

– bought to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Discover more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

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

No waiving of rights

No worker can consent to waive or quit their rights under the ESA (for instance, 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 lead to enforcement action.

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

– an order to pay.

– a order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of conflict with a financial penalty.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of just some of the guidelines impacting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and safety, referall.us 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.

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 impacting workplaces include statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance 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 workers and employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some individuals and individuals or organizations they work for, such as:

– workers and employers in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, adremcareers.com such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and television stations and inter-provincial trains.

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

– people working under a program that is approved by a profession college registered under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

– secondary school students who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that runs the school in which the student is registered.

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

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

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

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

– significant junior ice hockey players who satisfy specific conditions related to scholarships.

– people who satisfy the definition of business specialist or infotech consultant 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 staff members as independent professionals, interns, volunteers or any other type of worker 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 available to assist you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the main reference 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 questions about the ESA. Information is offered in many languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.