Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of details about essential areas of the ESA. It is for your info and help just. It is not a legal document. If you require details or exact language, please describe the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide must not be utilized as or considered legal suggestions. You might have higher rights under an employment agreement, cumulative agreement, the typical law or other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk with a legal representative.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

advantage plans

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

important health problem leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: circulation requirements

equivalent pay for equal work

family caretaker leave

household medical leave

household obligation leave

submitting a claim

hours of work, consuming durations and rest periods

contagious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – short-term help companies and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of salaries

pregnancy and parental leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

short-lived aid companies

termination of work and short-lived layoffs

suggestions or gratuities

getaway.

written policy on disconnecting from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of staff members.

Reprisals are restricted

Employers are forbidden from penalizing workers in any method due to the fact that the employee worked out ESA rights.

Clients of temporary help firms are prohibited from penalizing assignment workers in any way due to the fact that the task staff member worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from penalizing potential staff members who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any way for specific reasons, consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or making queries about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, customers of short-lived assistance firms and recruiters who devote a reprisal can be:

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

– bought to renew the worker or project worker (if the reprisal was devoted by a company or customer of a short-lived aid firm).

– purchased to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act offers a staff member a greater right or than a minimum employment standard under the ESA then that arrangement uses to the staff member rather of the employment requirement.

No waiving of rights

No employee can agree to waive or provide up their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to receive overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such agreement is null and referall.us space.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can lead to enforcement action.

The type of enforcement action that can be taken depends upon which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notice of breach with a monetary charge.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of just some of the rules impacting 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, 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 workplaces consist of statutes on earnings tax, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

To learn more about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details 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 apply to some individuals and individuals or organizations they work for, such as:

– workers and companies in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airline companies, banks, the federal civil service, post offices, radio and tv stations and inter-provincial trains.

– 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 authorized by the school board that runs the school in which the student is registered.

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

– authorities officers (except for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do use).

– prisoners 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, religious or chosen trade union offices.

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

– people who meet the meaning of service consultant or infotech consultant under the ESA if certain conditions are met.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are prohibited from misclassifying employees as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other type of employee not covered by the ESA.

Learn more about employee 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 main reference 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 answer your questions about the ESA. Information is readily available in lots of languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.