Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act
This guide is a hassle-free source of details about key areas of the ESA. It is for your info and help only. It is not a legal document. If you require details or employment precise language, please refer to the ESA itself and employment its guidelines.
This guide must not be utilized as or considered legal guidance. You might 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 with a lawyer.
Topics covered by the ESA?
These consist of:
benefit strategies
bereavement leave
kid death leave
crime-related child disappearance leave
important illness leave
declared emergency leave
domestic or sexual violence leave
the work standards poster: circulation requirements
equivalent pay for equivalent work
household caregiver leave
family medical leave
family responsibility leave
suing
hours of work, consuming periods and pause
contagious disease emergency situation leave
licensing – momentary assistance companies and recruiters
lie detector tests
base pay
non-compete arrangements
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of earnings
pregnancy and parental leave
public holidays
reservist leave
severance of employment
authorized leave
temporary aid companies
termination of employment and temporary layoffs
ideas or gratuities
getaway.
written policy on detaching from work.
written policy on electronic monitoring of workers.
Reprisals are restricted
Employers are prohibited from punishing employees in any way since the staff member worked out ESA rights.
Clients of momentary aid agencies are prohibited from penalizing project workers in any method because the project employee worked out ESA rights.
Recruiters are restricted from penalizing prospective employees who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any method for certain reasons, including asking the employer to adhere to the Act or inquiring about whether an individual holds a licence as needed by the ESA.
Employers, clients of short-lived help agencies and recruiters who commit a reprisal can be:
– ordered to compensate the employee, assignment employee or potential staff member.
– bought to reinstate the employee or project employee (if the reprisal was devoted by an employer or client of a short-lived aid firm).
– ordered to pay a penalty.
– prosecuted.
Learn more about reprisals.
Greater right or advantage
If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act provides a worker a greater right or advantage than a minimum work requirement under the ESA then that arrangement applies to the employee instead of the employment standard.
No waiving of rights
No staff member can concur to waive or quit 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 on which arrangement of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:
– an order to pay.
– a compliance order.
– a ticket.
– a notification of breach 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 issues 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.
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 offices include statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.
For more details about federal laws, call the Government of Canada information 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 the people or companies 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 railways.
– individuals working under a program approved by a college of used arts and technology or university.
– people working under a program that is authorized by a career college registered under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.
– secondary school trainees who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that operates the school in which the trainee is registered.
– people who do community participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
– police officers (other than for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do use).
participating in work or rehabilitation programs, or individuals who work as part of a sentence or order of a court.
– people who hold political, judicial, religious or chosen trade union workplaces.
– significant junior ice hockey gamers who fulfill particular conditions associated with scholarships.
– individuals who satisfy the definition of service specialist or details innovation consultant under the ESA if particular conditions are satisfied.
For a complete listing of other individuals not governed by the ESA, please check the ESA and its guidelines.
Employee misclassification
Employers are restricted from misclassifying workers as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other type of employee not covered by the ESA.
Find out more about worker 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 reference source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting 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 readily available in numerous languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.