Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of information about essential areas of the ESA. It is for your info and assistance 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 must not be utilized as or thought about legal guidance. You might have higher 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 lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

critical illness leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: circulation requirements

equal pay for equal work

family caretaker leave

family medical leave

household responsibility leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, consuming periods and rest durations

infectious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – momentary aid agencies and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete agreements

organ donor employment leave

overtime pay

payment of incomes

pregnancy and parental leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of employment

authorized leave

momentary assistance firms

termination of employment and momentary layoffs

ideas or gratuities

holiday.

written policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on monitoring of staff members.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are prohibited from penalizing employees in any method because the worker exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary assistance firms are prohibited from punishing assignment workers in any way because the task employee worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from punishing prospective staff members who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any way for certain reasons, consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or investigating about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, customers of short-term assistance agencies and recruiters who dedicate a reprisal can be:

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

– bought to restore the worker or task employee (if the reprisal was committed by a company or customer of a temporary assistance company).

– ordered to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

If an arrangement in a work agreement or employment another Act gives a worker a greater right or advantage than a minimum work requirement under the ESA then that arrangement uses to the staff member rather of the employment requirement.

No waiving of rights

No employee can agree to waive or give up their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to receive overtime pay or employment public vacation pay). Any such arrangement is null and space.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.

The type 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 notification of contravention with a financial penalty.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA includes only 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 Wellness Act.

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.

Labour Relations Act, 1995.

Pay Equity Act.

Human Rights Code.

To find out more 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 offices include statutes on income tax, work insurance 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 staff members and employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not use to some individuals and the people or organizations they work for, such as:

– staff members and employers 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 railways.

– individuals working under a program approved by a college of applied arts and innovation or university.

– people working under a program that is approved by a career college signed up under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

– secondary school students who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that operates the school in which the trainee is enrolled.

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

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

– 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, religious or chosen trade union offices.

– major junior ice hockey gamers who meet particular conditions connected to scholarships.

– individuals who meet the meaning of service consultant or information innovation expert under the ESA if specific conditions are satisfied.

For a complete listing of other people not governed by the ESA, please inspect the ESA and employment its guidelines.

Employee misclassification

Employers are forbidden from misclassifying employees as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other type of worker not covered by the ESA.

Find out more about employee misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, employment the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has additional resources offered to assist you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary recommendation 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 readily available in lots of languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.