Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of info about essential areas of the ESA. It is for your information and help only. It is not a legal document. If you need information or precise language, please refer to the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide needs to not be used as or thought about legal recommendations. You may have greater rights under an employment agreement, cumulative agreement, the common law or other legislation. If you’re unsure about anything in this guide, please talk to a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

benefit strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

vital disease leave

declared emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: distribution requirements

equal pay for equivalent work

family caregiver leave

family medical leave

family duty leave

filing a claim

hours of work, eating durations and rest durations

infectious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – short-lived aid agencies and employers

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and adult leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

short-term aid companies

termination of work and short-term layoffs

ideas or gratuities

getaway.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of staff members.

Reprisals are prohibited

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

Clients of momentary aid companies are restricted from punishing project employees in any method because the task staff member exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from penalizing potential employees who engage or use the employer’s services in any way for particular factors, referall.us consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or inquiring about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, clients of short-term aid companies and employers who dedicate a reprisal can be:

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

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

– purchased 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 greater right or advantage than a minimum employment requirement under the ESA then that provision uses to the employee rather of the work standard.

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 compliance 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 contains only a few of the rules impacting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and safety, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws include the:

Occupational Health And Wellness 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: somalibidders.com 1-800-267-8097 (in the rest of Ontario).

– online at ServiceOntario.ca.

Federal laws affecting offices include statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.

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

Who is not covered by the ESA?

Most staff members and employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some individuals and the people or organizations they work for, such as:

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

– people working under a program approved by a college of used arts and innovation 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 licensed by the school board that operates the school in which the student is enrolled.

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

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

– 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 gamers who fulfill particular conditions associated with scholarships.

– people who satisfy the definition of company consultant or infotech expert under the ESA if specific conditions are fulfilled.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are restricted from misclassifying workers as independent specialists, 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 extra resources readily available to help you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary recommendation source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

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