Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act
This guide is a practical source of information about crucial sections of the ESA. It is for your info and assistance just. It is not a legal file. If you require details or imoodle.win exact language, please describe the ESA itself and its regulations.
This guide should not be used as or considered legal guidance. You might have higher rights under an employment agreement, collective contract, the typical law or other legislation. If you're not sure about anything in this guide, please speak with a lawyer.
Topics covered by the ESA?
These include:
benefit strategies
bereavement leave
child death leave
crime-related kid disappearance leave
crucial illness leave
declared emergency situation leave
domestic or sexual violence leave
the work requirements poster: circulation requirements
equivalent spend for equal work
household caretaker leave
household medical leave
household responsibility leave
suing
hours of work, eating durations and rest periods
transmittable illness emergency leave
licensing - temporary assistance firms and employers
lie detector tests
base pay
non-compete agreements
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of incomes
pregnancy and adult leave
public holidays
reservist leave
severance of work
sick leave
temporary aid firms
termination of work and momentary layoffs
ideas or gratuities
getaway.
composed policy on detaching from work.
written policy on electronic monitoring of staff members.
Reprisals are restricted
Employers are prohibited from punishing workers in any way since the worker exercised ESA rights.
Clients of short-lived aid firms are prohibited from penalizing project staff members in any way because the task worker worked out ESA rights.
Recruiters are forbidden from penalizing prospective workers who engage or use the recruiter's services in any method for certain reasons, consisting of asking the recruiter to abide by the Act or making inquiries about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.
Employers, customers of temporary aid companies and employers who commit a reprisal can be:
- bought to the employee, task worker or potential staff member.
- purchased to renew the staff member or task worker (if the reprisal was committed by a company or client of a short-term assistance agency).
- ordered to pay a charge.
- prosecuted.
Discover more about reprisals.
Greater right or advantage
If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act gives a staff member a higher right or benefit than a minimum work standard under the ESA then that arrangement uses to the worker rather of the work requirement.
No waiving of rights
No employee can agree to waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for example, 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 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 includes only a few of the guidelines affecting 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 Wellness 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: akropolistravel.com 1-800-267-8097 (in the rest of Ontario).
- online at ServiceOntario.ca.
Federal laws affecting work environments include statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.
For more information 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 use to some people and the individuals or companies they work for, such as:
- staff members and companies in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and tv stations and inter-provincial trains.
- individuals working under a program authorized by a college of used 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 students who work under a work experience program licensed by the school board that runs the school in which the trainee is registered.
- individuals who do neighborhood involvement under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
- cops officers (other than for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do apply).
- inmates taking part in work or rehab programs, or individuals who work as part of a sentence or order of a court.
- people who hold political, judicial, spiritual or elected trade union offices.
- major junior ice hockey players who fulfill specific conditions related to scholarships.
- people who satisfy the definition of organization specialist or details innovation specialist under the ESA if certain conditions are fulfilled.
For a total listing of other people not governed by the ESA, please inspect the ESA and its guidelines.
Employee misclassification
Employers are forbidden from misclassifying staff members as independent professionals, interns, volunteers or any other kind of employee not covered by the ESA.
Learn 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 available to help you:
- The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the main referral 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 offered to address your questions about the ESA. Information is readily available in many languages. You can reach the details centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.