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 file. If you require details or precise language, please describe the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide needs to not be utilized as or considered legal recommendations. You might have greater rights under an employment agreement, collective arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please speak with a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

important health problem leave

declared emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: distribution requirements

equal spend for equal work

household caretaker leave

family medical leave

household duty leave

suing

hours of work, eating durations and pause

infectious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – short-lived assistance firms and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of employment

authorized leave

temporary assistance companies

termination of employment and short-term layoffs

tips or gratuities

trip.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of workers.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are forbidden from penalizing workers in any way because the worker exercised ESA rights.

Clients of short-term help agencies are restricted from punishing task workers in any way since the assignment staff member worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from punishing potential workers who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any way for specific factors, somalibidders.com consisting of asking the employer to comply with the Act or investigating about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, customers of momentary assistance agencies and employers who dedicate a reprisal can be:

– bought to compensate the staff member, project worker or prospective employee.

– purchased to reinstate the worker or project staff member (if the reprisal was committed by an employer or client of a temporary assistance firm).

– ordered to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

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

No waiving of rights

No staff member can accept waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to get overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such agreement is null and void.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.

The kind 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 notice of conflict with a financial penalty.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of just a few of the guidelines impacting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs problems such as workplace health and wellness, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws include 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 affecting work environments consist of statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

To learn more 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 use to some individuals and individuals or companies they work for, such as:

– employees and companies in sectors that fall under federal work 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 technology or university.

– people working under a program that is authorized by a profession college registered under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

school students who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that runs the school in which the trainee is registered.

– individuals who do community participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.

– law enforcement officer (except for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do use).

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

– individuals who hold political, judicial, spiritual or elected trade union offices.

– significant junior ice hockey players who meet specific conditions associated with scholarships.

– people who meet the definition of company expert or info innovation expert under the ESA if specific conditions are satisfied.

For a complete 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 contractors, interns, volunteers or any other type of employee not covered by the ESA.

Learn more about staff member misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, referall.us Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has additional resources readily available to assist you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary referral source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting the analysis, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

– Staff at the Employment Standards Information Centre are readily available to answer your concerns about the ESA. Information is readily available in many languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.