Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of info about crucial areas of the ESA. It is for your info and assistance just. It is not a legal file. If you need information or specific language, please refer to the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide should not be utilized as or thought about legal advice. You may have greater rights under an employment agreement, cumulative arrangement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re unsure about anything in this guide, please talk with a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

crucial health problem leave

declared emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work requirements poster: circulation requirements

equal pay for equal work

household caregiver leave

household medical leave

family responsibility leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, eating durations and referall.us rest durations

contagious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – momentary assistance companies and employers

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and parental leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

authorized leave

temporary help firms

termination of employment and temporary layoffs

suggestions or gratuities

vacation.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of staff members.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are prohibited from penalizing workers in any method since the worker worked out ESA rights.

Clients of short-lived help firms are forbidden from penalizing project workers in any way because the assignment worker worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from penalizing potential who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any method for particular factors, including asking the employer to abide by the Act or making questions about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

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

– ordered to compensate the employee, somalibidders.com project employee or prospective employee.

– ordered to restore the employee or assignment staff member (if the reprisal was devoted by a company or client of a short-lived help company).

– purchased to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Discover more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

No worker can consent to waive or provide up their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such arrangement 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 on which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of conflict with a monetary penalty.

– an order to reinstate and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of only some 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, 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 work environments consist of statutes on income tax, employment insurance and the Canada Pension.

For more details about federal laws, call the Government of Canada info 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 individuals and individuals or companies they work for, such as:

– employees and companies in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airlines, 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 career college signed up under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

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

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

– law enforcement officer (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.

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

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

– people who fulfill the definition of service consultant or info innovation consultant under the ESA if certain conditions are met.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are prohibited 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, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has extra resources available to help 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 available to answer your questions about the ESA. Information is available in lots of languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.