Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of info about essential areas of the ESA. It is for your info and support just. It is not a legal file. If you require details or exact language, please describe the ESA itself and its regulations.

This guide ought to not be utilized as or considered legal recommendations. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, cumulative arrangement, the common law or other legislation. If you’re not sure about anything in this guide, please speak to a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit strategies

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

crucial disease leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment requirements poster: circulation requirements

equal spend for equal work

household caregiver leave

household medical leave

household obligation leave

suing

hours of work, consuming periods and pause

transmittable illness emergency leave

licensing – short-lived aid companies and recruiters

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and adult leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of employment

ill leave

short-term assistance firms

termination of employment and temporary layoffs

ideas or gratuities

vacation.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic monitoring of workers.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are forbidden from punishing workers in any way due to the fact that the worker worked out ESA rights.

Clients of temporary assistance firms are restricted from penalizing project staff members in any method because the project employee exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing prospective workers who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any method for particular factors, including asking the recruiter to adhere to the Act or investigating about whether an individual holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, customers of momentary aid firms and recruiters who devote a reprisal can be:

– ordered to compensate the worker, project staff member or potential worker.

– bought to restore the staff member or assignment worker (if the reprisal was committed by a company or client of a short-lived aid agency).

– ordered to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If an arrangement in a work agreement or another Act gives an employee a greater right or advantage than a minimum work standard under the ESA then that arrangement applies to the employee instead of the work standard.

No waiving of rights

No staff member can concur to waive or provide up their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to get overtime pay or public vacation 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 arrangement of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notice of contravention with a financial charge.

– an order to reinstate and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of just a few of the rules affecting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns 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, employment 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 consist of statutes on income tax, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

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 employees and employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not use to some people and the individuals or organizations they work for, employment 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 employment tv stations and inter-provincial railways.

– individuals working under a program authorized by a college of applied arts and innovation 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 runs the school in which the student is registered.

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

– cops officers (other than for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do use).

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

– individuals who hold political, judicial, spiritual or chosen trade union workplaces.

– major junior ice hockey gamers who satisfy certain conditions connected to scholarships.

– individuals who fulfill the definition of business expert or info innovation consultant under the ESA if are fulfilled.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are restricted from misclassifying staff members as independent contractors, interns, volunteers or any other kind of worker not covered by the ESA.

Learn 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 available 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 available 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.