Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act
This guide is a hassle-free source of information about crucial areas of the ESA. It is for your information and help just. It is not a legal document. If you need details or precise language, please refer to the ESA itself and its regulations.
This guide needs to not be used as or thought about legal guidance. You may have greater rights under an employment agreement, cumulative agreement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk with a legal representative.
Topics covered by the ESA?
These consist of:
benefit strategies
bereavement leave
child death leave
crime-related child disappearance leave
crucial disease leave
declared emergency leave
domestic or leave
the work requirements poster: circulation requirements
equivalent pay for equivalent work
family caregiver leave
household medical leave
household obligation leave
suing
hours of work, eating durations and pause
contagious illness emergency leave
licensing – temporary aid agencies and employers
lie detector tests
base pay
non-compete arrangements
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of earnings
pregnancy and parental leave
public holidays
reservist leave
severance of work
ill leave
short-lived assistance agencies
termination of work and momentary layoffs
tips or gratuities
trip.
composed policy on disconnecting from work.
composed policy on electronic tracking of staff members.
Reprisals are restricted
Employers are prohibited from punishing workers in any method because the worker exercised ESA rights.
Clients of momentary aid firms are forbidden from penalizing assignment workers in any method because the task employee exercised ESA rights.
Recruiters are prohibited from punishing potential workers who engage or use the employer’s services in any method for certain reasons, consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or investigating about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.
Employers, clients of momentary help companies and recruiters who devote a reprisal can be:
– purchased to compensate the worker, task worker or prospective staff member.
– ordered to renew the employee or task employee (if the reprisal was dedicated by a company or client of a temporary help company).
– bought to pay a charge.
– prosecuted.
Learn more about reprisals.
Greater right or advantage
If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act provides a staff member a higher right or benefit than a minimum employment requirement under the ESA then that provision uses to the staff member instead of the work requirement.
No waiving of rights
No employee can accept 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 void.
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 breach with a monetary charge.
– an order to renew and/or compensate.
– prosecution.
Other workplace-related laws
The ESA includes just some of the rules affecting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs problems such as workplace health and wellness, human rights and labour relations.
Related Ontario laws consist of the:
Occupational Health And Wellness Act.
Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.
Labour Relations Act, 1995.
Pay Equity Act.
Human Rights Code.
To find out 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 include statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.
To find out more about federal laws, referall.us 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 individuals or companies they work for, such as:
– employees and employers in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airline companies, banks, the federal civil service, post offices, radio and tv stations and inter-provincial trains.
– individuals working under a program authorized by a college of used 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 operates the school in which the student is enrolled.
– individuals who do neighborhood participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
– law enforcement officer (other than for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do apply).
– prisoners 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, religious or elected trade union workplaces.
– major junior ice hockey players who meet certain conditions connected to scholarships.
– individuals who fulfill the definition of company specialist or information technology specialist under the ESA if specific conditions are satisfied.
For a complete listing of other people not governed by the ESA, please examine the ESA and its policies.
Employee misclassification
Employers are forbidden from misclassifying staff members as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other type of worker not covered by the ESA.
Learn more about worker 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 reference 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 offered to address your questions about the ESA. Information is readily available in many languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.