Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of details about key sections of the ESA. It is for your information and help only. It is not a legal file. If you need details or precise language, employment please refer to the ESA itself and its guidelines.

This guide needs to not be used as or thought about legal recommendations. You may have greater 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 lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These include:

advantage strategies

bereavement leave

kid death leave

crime-related child disappearance leave

vital health problem leave

stated emergency leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: distribution requirements

equivalent pay for employment equivalent work

family caregiver leave

household medical leave

family responsibility leave

suing

hours of work, eating periods and rest durations

contagious illness emergency situation leave

licensing – short-lived assistance companies and recruiters

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete agreements

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of earnings

pregnancy and parental leave

public holidays

reservist leave

severance of work

ill leave

short-term aid companies

termination of work and momentary layoffs

pointers or gratuities

getaway.

written policy on detaching from work.

written policy on electronic tracking of employees.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are restricted from punishing workers in any way due to the fact that the staff member worked out ESA rights.

Clients of momentary help agencies are restricted from punishing assignment employees in any method because the project employee exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are prohibited from punishing prospective staff members who engage or use the recruiter’s services in any way for certain reasons, employment consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or investigating about whether an individual holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

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

– purchased to compensate the worker, task worker or prospective employee.

– ordered to renew the employee or project employee (if the reprisal was dedicated by a company or customer of a short-lived aid agency).

– bought to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

No staff member can consent to waive or provide up their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to receive overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such contract 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 upon which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples include:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of contravention with a financial 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 employment federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and security, 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 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, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

For additional information about federal laws, call the Government of Canada info 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:

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

– individuals working under a program approved by a college of applied arts and innovation or university.

– people working under a program that is approved by a profession college signed up under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

– secondary school students who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that runs the school in which the trainee is registered.

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

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

– 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, spiritual or employment elected trade union offices.

– significant junior ice hockey players who satisfy specific conditions related to scholarships.

– people who fulfill the definition of business expert or infotech specialist under the ESA if certain conditions are met.

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

misclassification

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

Find out more about worker misclassification.

Additional resources

In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has additional resources available to help 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 analysis, administration and enforcement of the ESA.

– Staff at the Employment Standards Information Centre are offered to answer your questions about the ESA. Information is available in many languages. You can reach the information centre from Monday to Friday, employment 8:30 a.m.