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Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a hassle-free source of info about key areas of the ESA. It is for your details and support just. It is not a legal document. If you require details or precise language, please refer to the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide must not be utilized as or considered legal suggestions. You might have greater rights under an employment contract, cumulative contract, the typical 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 consist of:

advantage plans

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

crucial health problem leave

declared emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the work standards poster: circulation requirements

equal spend for equivalent work

family caregiver leave

household medical leave

household responsibility leave

filing a claim

hours of work, eating durations and rest durations

infectious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – temporary help agencies and recruiters

lie detector tests

base pay

non-compete arrangements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

short-lived aid firms

termination of work and temporary layoffs

suggestions or gratuities

holiday.

written policy on detaching from work.

composed policy on electronic tracking of staff members.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are prohibited from penalizing workers in any method because the employee worked out ESA rights.

Clients of momentary aid firms are prohibited from punishing project employees in any way because the assignment staff member worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are forbidden from penalizing prospective workers who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any way for certain factors, consisting of asking the employer to adhere to the Act or making questions about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

Employers, clients of temporary aid agencies and recruiters who dedicate a reprisal can be:

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

– ordered to restore the worker or project employee (if the reprisal was committed by a company or customer of a momentary help company).

– purchased to pay a penalty.

– prosecuted.

Discover more about reprisals.

Greater right or benefit

If a provision in an employment agreement or another Act gives a staff member a greater right or employment benefit than a minimum work standard under the ESA then that provision applies to the employee rather of the employment requirement.

No waiving of rights

No worker can accept waive or provide up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to get overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such contract is null and void.

Enforcement and compliance

Violations of the ESA can lead to enforcement action.

The type 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 notice of breach with a financial charge.

– an order to reinstate and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA contains only some of the rules affecting work 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.

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 impacting offices include statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.

To find out more 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 apply to some people and individuals or organizations they work for, such as:

– workers and employment companies in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airlines, 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 or university.

– individuals working under a program that is authorized 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 trainee is registered.

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

– law enforcement officer (except for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do use).

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

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

– significant junior employment ice hockey gamers who meet specific conditions connected to scholarships.

– people who fulfill the meaning of organization expert or details innovation consultant under the ESA if specific conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

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

Find out 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 assist you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary 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 available to address your concerns about the ESA. Information is available in numerous languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.