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 info and help just. It is not a legal file. If you require information or exact language, employment please refer to the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide ought to not be utilized as or considered legal advice. You may have greater rights under an employment agreement, cumulative agreement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re unsure about anything in this guide, please talk with an attorney.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

advantage plans

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

crucial health problem leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: circulation requirements

equivalent spend for equivalent work

family caretaker leave

household medical leave

family obligation leave

suing

hours of work, eating durations and rest periods

contagious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – short-term help companies and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and adult leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

authorized leave

momentary help companies

termination of work and temporary layoffs

suggestions or gratuities

vacation.

written policy on disconnecting from work.

written policy on electronic monitoring of workers.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are prohibited from penalizing employees in any way since the staff member exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary help firms are forbidden from punishing task staff members in any way since the project staff member worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from penalizing prospective employees who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any method for certain factors, including asking the recruiter to abide by the Act or inquiring about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, customers of temporary help agencies and employers who dedicate a reprisal can be:

– purchased to compensate the worker, project employee or employment potential staff member.

– purchased to renew the worker or task staff member (if the reprisal was dedicated by an employer or client of a momentary help agency).

– purchased to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If a provision in an employment agreement or another Act provides a staff member a greater right or employment advantage than a minimum employment standard under the ESA then that provision uses to the worker instead of the employment requirement.

No waiving of rights

No employee can consent to waive or quit their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to get 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 kind of enforcement action that can be taken depends on which arrangement of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of contravention with a monetary charge.

– an order to reinstate and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA includes just some of the guidelines affecting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns 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 additional information 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 earnings tax, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

For more details 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 companies 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:

– workers and companies in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, 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 used arts and employment innovation or university.

– individuals 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 authorized 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.

– cops officers (except for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do use).

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

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

– major junior ice hockey players who certain conditions connected to scholarships.

– individuals who meet the meaning of service expert or infotech specialist under the ESA if certain conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are prohibited from misclassifying staff members as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other kind of worker not covered by the ESA.

Learn more about employee misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has additional resources readily available 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 concerns about the ESA. Information is available in numerous languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.