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 info and assistance only. 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 should not be utilized as or employment considered legal recommendations. You might have greater rights under an employment agreement, collective agreement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk to an attorney.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

critical illness leave

declared emergency situation leave

domestic or employment sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: circulation requirements

equivalent spend for equal work

household caregiver leave

household medical leave

family responsibility leave

suing

hours of work, eating durations and rest periods

transmittable disease emergency leave

licensing – short-term help companies and employers

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete agreements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of salaries

pregnancy and adult leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

momentary help firms

termination of work and temporary layoffs

tips or gratuities

getaway.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

written policy on electronic monitoring of employees.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are restricted from penalizing employees in any way because the employee worked out ESA rights.

Clients of temporary aid firms are prohibited from penalizing assignment workers in any way due to the fact that the project employee exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from punishing prospective workers who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any method for certain factors, consisting of asking the employer to adhere to the Act or making inquiries about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

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

– purchased to compensate the staff member, assignment staff member or potential staff member.

– ordered to reinstate the worker or task employee (if the reprisal was committed by a company or customer of a momentary help agency).

– bought to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Discover more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

If a provision in a work contract or another Act offers a worker a higher right or advantage than a minimum work requirement under the ESA then that arrangement applies to the worker instead of the employment standard.

No waiving of rights

No worker can concur to waive or give up 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 result in enforcement action.

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

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notice of breach with a financial charge.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of only a few of the rules impacting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns such as workplace health and security, 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, employment 1995.

Pay Equity Act.

Human Rights Code.

For more details about other Ontario laws, 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 work environments consist of statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

To find out more about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details 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 use to some people and individuals or organizations they work for, such as:

– workers 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 applied arts and technology or employment university.

– people 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.

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

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

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

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

– significant junior ice hockey gamers who satisfy particular conditions associated with scholarships.

– people who meet the meaning of business consultant or infotech expert under the ESA if certain 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 staff members as independent contractors, interns, volunteers or any other kind of worker not covered by the ESA.

Find out more about worker misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, employment Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has extra resources available to help 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 offered to address your questions about the ESA. Information is available in numerous languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.