Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of info about crucial sections of the ESA. It is for your info and help only. It is not a legal document. If you need details or specific language, please refer to the ESA itself and its regulations.

This guide ought to not be used as or considered legal guidance. You may have greater rights under an employment agreement, cumulative contract, the common law or other legislation. If you’re not sure about anything in this guide, please talk to a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

vital health problem leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or employment sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: circulation requirements

equal pay for equivalent work

household caregiver leave

household medical leave

household responsibility leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, eating durations and rest durations

transmittable disease emergency leave

licensing – temporary help firms and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete contracts

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and adult leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

sick leave

short-term assistance agencies

termination of employment and temporary layoffs

tips or gratuities

getaway.

written policy on detaching from work.

written policy on electronic tracking of staff members.

Reprisals are forbidden

Employers are forbidden from penalizing staff members in any way due to the fact that the staff member exercised ESA rights.

Clients of temporary assistance firms are forbidden from punishing task employees in any method since the task worker exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing potential employees who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any method for certain factors, consisting of asking the recruiter to comply with the Act or employment inquiring about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, clients of short-lived assistance firms and employment employers who commit a reprisal can be:

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

– purchased to renew the staff member or task worker (if the reprisal was committed by an employer or client of a short-term help agency).

– purchased to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Discover more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act gives an employee a higher right or benefit than a minimum employment standard under the ESA then that provision uses to the worker instead of the work requirement.

No waiving of rights

No staff member can agree to waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such arrangement 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 upon which arrangement of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of contravention with a financial penalty.

– an order to reinstate and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA contains only a few of the guidelines affecting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs concerns such as workplace health and safety, 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.

For additional information 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 workplaces include statutes on income tax, employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.

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 companies in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not apply to some people and the people or employment companies they work for, such as:

– employees and employers in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airline companies, banks, the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and television stations and inter-provincial trains.

– people working under a program authorized by a college of applied arts and technology 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 trainee is enrolled.

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

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

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

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

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

– individuals who fulfill the definition of service expert or info technology expert under the ESA if certain conditions are fulfilled.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Find out 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 offered to help you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary referral 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 answer your questions about the ESA. Information is offered in numerous languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.