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Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of details about key areas of the ESA. It is for your information and support only. It is not a legal document. If you require details or precise language, please describe the ESA itself and its policies.

This guide should not be utilized as or considered legal advice. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, collective arrangement, the typical law or employment other legislation. If you’re uncertain about anything in this guide, please talk with a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

benefit plans

bereavement leave

child death leave

crime-related kid disappearance leave

crucial illness leave

stated emergency situation leave

domestic or sexual violence leave

the employment standards poster: employment distribution requirements

equivalent spend for equivalent work

family caregiver leave

household medical leave

family duty leave

filing a claim

hours of work, eating durations and rest periods

infectious disease emergency situation leave

licensing – momentary aid agencies and recruiters

lie detector tests

minimum wage

non-compete contracts

organ donor leave

overtime pay

payment of wages

pregnancy and parental leave

public vacations

reservist leave

severance of employment

authorized leave

temporary assistance firms

termination of employment and short-lived layoffs

suggestions or gratuities

vacation.

written policy on disconnecting from work.

written policy on electronic tracking of staff members.

Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are forbidden from penalizing staff members in any way since the employee exercised ESA rights.

Clients of momentary aid agencies are prohibited from punishing project employees in any way due to the fact that the task employee worked out ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from penalizing potential staff members who engage or utilize the employer’s services in any way for specific factors, including asking the recruiter to adhere to the Act or inquiring about whether a person holds a licence as required by the ESA.

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

– bought to compensate the employee, employment project employee or potential employee.

– bought to renew the worker or task staff member (if the reprisal was devoted by a company or client of a momentary assistance firm).

– ordered to pay a charge.

– prosecuted.

Learn more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

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

No waiving of rights

No employee can consent to waive or quit their rights under the ESA (for employment instance, the right to get overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such agreement 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 consist of:

– an order to pay.

– a compliance order.

– a ticket.

– a notification of breach with a financial charge.

– an order to renew and/or compensate.

– prosecution.

Other workplace-related laws

The ESA contains only a few of the rules impacting work in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs problems such as workplace health and wellness, human rights and labour relations.

Related Ontario laws consist of the:

Occupational Health And Wellness Act.

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.

Labour Relations Act, employment 1995.

Pay Equity Act.

Human Rights Code.

For more details about other Ontario laws, contact ServiceOntario:

– Tel: 416-326-1234 (in Toronto).

– Toll-free: employment 1-800-267-8097 (in the rest of Ontario).

– online at ServiceOntario.ca.

Federal laws affecting work environments include statutes on income tax, employment employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

To find out more 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 people and individuals or organizations 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 tv stations and inter-provincial railways.

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

– individuals working under a program that is authorized by a career college signed up 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 is registered.

– individuals who do community participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.

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

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

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

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

– people who fulfill the definition of organization consultant or information innovation consultant under the ESA if particular conditions are satisfied.

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

Employee misclassification

Employers are forbidden from misclassifying workers as independent professionals, interns, volunteers or any other type of employee 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 additional resources available to assist you:

– The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the main recommendation source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting 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 offered in numerous languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.