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Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act
This guide is a convenient source of information about essential sections of the ESA. It is for your information and help only. It is not a legal file. If you need details or exact language, please describe the ESA itself and its guidelines.
This guide needs to not be utilized as or thought about legal guidance. You may have higher rights under an employment agreement, collective arrangement, the common law or other legislation. If you're not sure about anything in this guide, please talk to an attorney.
Topics covered by the ESA?
These include:
benefit plans
bereavement leave
kid death leave
crime-related kid disappearance leave
critical illness leave
stated emergency situation leave
domestic or sexual violence leave
the work standards poster: circulation requirements
equivalent spend for equivalent work
household caregiver leave
family medical leave
household obligation leave
suing
hours of work, eating durations and employment pause
transmittable illness emergency leave
licensing - temporary help agencies and employers
lie detector tests
base pay
non-compete arrangements
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of wages
pregnancy and parental leave
public holidays
reservist leave
severance of work
authorized leave
momentary assistance firms
termination of employment and short-lived layoffs
tips or gratuities
trip.
written policy on detaching from work.
composed policy on electronic tracking of staff members.
Reprisals are forbidden
Employers are prohibited from penalizing staff members in any way since the employee worked out ESA rights.
Clients of temporary aid companies are forbidden from penalizing assignment employees in any way since the task staff member worked out ESA rights.
Recruiters are forbidden from penalizing potential employees who engage or employment utilize the employer's services in any method for particular factors, consisting of asking the employer to abide by the Act or making inquiries about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.
Employers, clients of temporary assistance firms and employers who dedicate a reprisal can be:
- bought to compensate the staff member, assignment worker or potential staff member.
- ordered to restore the worker or assignment worker (if the reprisal was dedicated by a company or customer of a short-lived assistance agency).
- bought to pay a charge.
- prosecuted.
Find out more about reprisals.
Greater right or benefit
If a provision in an employment agreement or another Act gives a worker a higher right or advantage than a minimum work requirement under the ESA then that arrangement applies to the staff member instead of the employment requirement.
No waiving of rights
No employee can accept waive or employment quit their rights under the ESA (for instance, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such arrangement 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 on which provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples consist of:
- an order to pay.
- a compliance order.
- a ticket.
- a notice of breach with a financial charge.
- an order to restore and/or compensate.
- prosecution.
Other workplace-related laws
The ESA includes only a few of the rules affecting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and wellness, human rights and employment 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 information about other Ontario laws, contact ServiceOntario:
- Tel: employment 416-326-1234 (in Toronto).
- Toll-free: 1-800-267-8097 (in the rest of Ontario).
- online at ServiceOntario.ca.
Federal laws impacting workplaces consist of statutes on earnings tax, employment insurance coverage and the Canada Pension.
For more info about federal laws, call the Government of Canada info line at 1-800-622-6232.
Who is not covered by the ESA?
Most workers and employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not use to some people and individuals or organizations they work for, such as:
- workers and employers in sectors that fall under federal employment law jurisdiction, such as airline companies, banks, employment the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and tv stations and inter-provincial railways.
- individuals working under a program authorized by a college of used arts and innovation or university.
- people working under a program that is authorized by a career college signed up under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.
- secondary school students who work under a work experience program authorized by the school board that operates the school in which the trainee is registered.
- individuals who do community participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
- authorities officers (other than for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do use).
- prisoners 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, religious or chosen trade union offices.
- major junior ice hockey players who meet particular conditions related to scholarships.
- people who satisfy the meaning of business consultant or infotech consultant under the ESA if certain conditions are met.
For a total listing of other people not governed by the ESA, please check the ESA and its guidelines.
Employee misclassification
Employers are restricted from misclassifying employees as independent specialists, interns, or any other type of employee not covered by the ESA.
Discover more about employee misclassification.
Additional resources
In addition to this guide, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) has extra resources readily 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 interpretation, administration and enforcement of the ESA.
- Staff at the Employment Standards Information Centre are readily available to address your questions about the ESA. Information is offered in lots of languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.
