Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of info about key sections of the ESA. It is for your details and support only. It is not a legal document. If you require information or exact language, please refer to the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide must not be utilized as or considered legal recommendations. You may have higher rights under a work contract, 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 include:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

important illness leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: distribution requirements

equal spend for employment equivalent work

household caretaker leave

household medical leave

household responsibility leave

suing

hours of work, eating periods and pause

transmittable disease emergency leave

licensing – temporary aid firms and recruiters

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

short-lived aid companies

termination of work and momentary layoffs

ideas or gratuities

getaway.

composed policy on disconnecting from work.

written policy on electronic monitoring of staff members.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are prohibited from penalizing workers in any way since the employee worked out ESA rights.

Clients of momentary aid agencies are restricted from punishing task staff members in any way because the assignment worker worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from punishing prospective employees who engage or use the employer’s services in any way for specific factors, consisting of asking the recruiter to adhere to the Act or making inquiries about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

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

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

– purchased to restore the staff member or project employee (if the reprisal was committed by a company or client of a short-lived assistance company).

– ordered to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

No staff member can accept waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday 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 on which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notice of contravention with a monetary charge.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of only some of the guidelines affecting work in Ontario. Other provincial and employment federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and security, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws consist of the:

Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.

Labour Relations Act, 1995.

Pay Equity Act.

Human Rights Code.

To learn 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 impacting workplaces consist of statutes on earnings tax, employment employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

For additional information about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details 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 apply to some individuals and the people or employment organizations they work for, such as:

– workers and companies in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airline companies, banks, the service, post workplaces, radio and tv stations and inter-provincial railways.

– people working under a program authorized by a college of applied arts and innovation or university.

– people working under a program that is approved by a profession 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 community participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.

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

– prisoners 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, spiritual or elected trade union offices.

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

– individuals who fulfill the meaning of organization consultant or info technology specialist under the ESA if specific conditions are fulfilled.

For a total listing of other individuals not governed by the ESA, please check the ESA and its policies.

Employee misclassification

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

Discover more about employee misclassification.

Additional resources

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

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the main 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 readily available to address your questions about the ESA. Information is offered in lots of languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.