Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act
This guide is a convenient source of information about essential sections of the ESA. It is for your info and support just. It is not a legal file. If you require information or precise language, please describe the ESA itself and its regulations.
This guide needs to not be used as or thought about legal advice. You might have higher rights under an employment agreement, cumulative contract, the common law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk to a lawyer.
Topics covered by the ESA?
These include:
advantage plans
bereavement leave
kid death leave
crime-related kid disappearance leave
critical disease leave
declared emergency leave
domestic or sexual violence leave
the employment standards poster: employment distribution requirements
equal pay for equivalent work
family caregiver leave
household medical leave
family obligation leave
suing
hours of work, eating durations and pause
contagious illness emergency situation leave
licensing – momentary assistance firms and employers
lie detector tests
minimum wage
non-compete contracts
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of incomes
pregnancy and
public holidays
reservist leave
severance of work
authorized leave
short-lived aid agencies
termination of work and short-lived layoffs
pointers or gratuities
getaway.
composed policy on disconnecting from work.
composed policy on electronic monitoring of staff members.
Reprisals are forbidden
Employers are restricted from penalizing workers in any method since the staff member worked out ESA rights.
Clients of temporary assistance agencies are forbidden from punishing assignment workers in any way because the assignment employee exercised ESA rights.
Recruiters are prohibited from penalizing potential staff members who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any method for specific reasons, consisting of asking the recruiter to comply with the Act or making questions about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.
Employers, clients of temporary help agencies and employers who devote a reprisal can be:
– purchased to compensate the employee, project worker or employment potential worker.
– purchased to restore the staff member or project worker (if the reprisal was committed by a company or customer of a short-term help company).
– bought to pay a charge.
– prosecuted.
Learn more about reprisals.
Greater right or employment benefit
If a provision in a work agreement or another Act offers a staff member a higher right or benefit than a minimum employment standard under the ESA then that provision applies to the staff member rather of the employment standard.
No waiving of rights
No employee can consent to waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for instance, employment the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such contract is null and space.
Enforcement and compliance
Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.
The kind of enforcement action that can be taken depends on which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples consist of:
– an order to pay.
– a compliance order.
– a ticket.
– a notification of conflict with a monetary charge.
– an order to renew and/or compensate.
– prosecution.
Other workplace-related laws
The ESA consists of only a few of the guidelines impacting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs problems such as workplace health and security, 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.
For more details 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 offices consist of statutes on income tax, employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.
To find out more 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 employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some people and the individuals or companies they work for, such as:
– employees and companies in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and tv stations and inter-provincial trains.
– people working under a program authorized by a college of used arts and innovation or university.
– individuals working under a program that is approved by a career college signed up 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 student is registered.
– people who do community involvement under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
– authorities officers (other than for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do use).
– inmates participating in work or rehab programs, or people who work as part of a sentence or order of a court.
– individuals who hold political, judicial, religious or chosen trade union offices.
– major junior ice hockey players who meet particular conditions connected to scholarships.
– individuals who fulfill the definition of company specialist or infotech specialist under the ESA if particular conditions are met.
For a total listing of other individuals not governed by the ESA, please inspect the ESA and its regulations.
Employee misclassification
Employers are forbidden from misclassifying employees as independent contractors, interns, volunteers or any other kind of employee 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 employment Skills Development (MLITSD) has extra resources available to assist you:
– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary reference source for employment 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 concerns about the ESA. Information is offered in many languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.