Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act
This guide is a convenient source of details about key sections of the ESA. It is for your information and support just. It is not a legal document. If you require details or precise language, please refer to the ESA itself and its regulations.
This guide ought to not be used as or thought about legal guidance. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, cumulative agreement, the common law or other legislation. If you’re unsure about anything in this guide, please speak to a lawyer.
Topics covered by the ESA?
These consist of:
advantage plans
bereavement leave
child death leave
crime-related kid disappearance leave
vital illness leave
declared emergency leave
domestic or sexual violence leave
the employment requirements poster: circulation requirements
equivalent spend for equal work
family caretaker leave
household medical leave
family duty leave
suing
hours of work, eating periods and rest durations
contagious disease emergency situation leave
licensing – momentary assistance firms and employers
lie detector tests
base pay
non-compete agreements
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of
pregnancy and adult leave
public holidays
reservist leave
severance of employment
ill leave
short-lived assistance companies
termination of employment and short-lived layoffs
tips or gratuities
getaway.
written policy on disconnecting from work.
written policy on electronic tracking of staff members.
Reprisals are prohibited
Employers are restricted from punishing employees in any way because the employee exercised ESA rights.
Clients of short-lived aid firms are forbidden from penalizing task employees in any method since the project worker exercised ESA rights.
Recruiters are prohibited from punishing potential employees who engage or use the employer’s services in any method for particular factors, consisting of asking the employer to comply with the Act or referall.us making questions about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.
Employers, clients of temporary help firms and recruiters who devote a reprisal can be:
– ordered to compensate the employee, task staff member or prospective employee.
– bought to restore the staff member or assignment employee (if the reprisal was dedicated by an employer or customer of a short-lived assistance company).
– purchased to pay a charge.
– prosecuted.
Learn more about reprisals.
Greater right or advantage
If an arrangement in an employment contract or another Act provides a worker a greater right or benefit than a minimum work standard under the ESA then that provision applies 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 example, the right to get 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 kind of enforcement action that can be taken depends upon which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:
– an order to pay.
– a compliance order.
– a ticket.
– a notice of contravention with a monetary charge.
– an order to restore and/or compensate.
– prosecution.
Other workplace-related laws
The ESA consists of just a few of the rules impacting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns 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.
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 workplaces consist of statutes on income tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.
For more details about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details 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 people and individuals or companies they work for, such as:
– employees and companies in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airline companies, banks, the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and tv stations and inter-provincial trains.
– people working under a program approved by a college of applied arts and technology 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 operates the school in which the trainee is registered.
– people who do neighborhood involvement under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
– police officers (except for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do use).
– 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.
– significant junior ice hockey gamers who satisfy certain conditions related to scholarships.
– people who fulfill the meaning of company expert or infotech specialist under the ESA if particular conditions are satisfied.
For a total listing of other individuals not governed by the ESA, please inspect the ESA and its regulations.
Employee misclassification
Employers are prohibited from misclassifying employees as independent professionals, interns, volunteers or any other kind of employee not covered by the ESA.
Find out 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 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 concerns about the ESA. Information is offered in numerous languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.
