Your Guide To The Employment Standards Act
This guide is a hassle-free source of information about essential sections of the ESA. It is for your information and support only. It is not a legal document. If you need details or specific language, please refer to the ESA itself and its policies.
This guide must not be used as or thought about legal advice. 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 speak with a lawyer.
Topics covered by the ESA?
These consist of:
benefit plans
bereavement leave
kid death leave
crime-related kid disappearance leave
important disease leave
stated emergency leave
domestic or sexual violence leave
the employment requirements poster: distribution requirements
equal spend for equivalent work
household caretaker leave
family medical leave
family responsibility leave
submitting a claim
hours of work, consuming periods and pause
contagious illness emergency situation leave
licensing - short-lived aid firms and recruiters
lie detector tests
minimum wage
non-compete contracts
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of earnings
pregnancy and adult leave
public holidays
reservist leave
severance of employment
authorized leave
temporary aid agencies
termination of employment and short-term layoffs
suggestions or gratuities
holiday.
written policy on disconnecting from work.
composed policy on electronic tracking of workers.
Reprisals are forbidden
Employers are forbidden from punishing employees in any way since the employee worked out ESA rights.
Clients of temporary help companies are restricted from punishing assignment staff members in any method because the assignment employee exercised ESA rights.
Recruiters are forbidden from penalizing prospective employees who engage or utilize the employer's services in any method for specific factors, including asking the recruiter to abide by the Act or investigating about whether an individual holds a licence as needed by the ESA.
Employers, customers of temporary assistance companies and recruiters who dedicate a reprisal can be:
- ordered to compensate the employee, assignment worker or potential worker.
- bought to reinstate the worker or employment task worker (if the reprisal was committed by a company or customer of a momentary aid company).
- purchased to pay a penalty.
- prosecuted.
Find out more about reprisals.
Greater right or benefit
If an arrangement in an employment agreement or another Act gives a staff member a greater right or advantage than a minimum work standard under the ESA then that arrangement uses to the employee rather of the work standard.
No waiving of rights
No worker can concur to waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such arrangement is null and void.
Enforcement and compliance
Violations of the ESA can result in enforcement action.
The type 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 contravention with a financial penalty.
- an order to reinstate and/or compensate.
- prosecution.
Other workplace-related laws
The ESA includes just some of the guidelines 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 include the:
Occupational Health and employment Safety Act.
Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.
Labour Relations Act, 1995.
Pay Equity Act.
Human Rights Code.
To learn more 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 workplaces include statutes on earnings tax, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.
For more details about federal laws, call the Government of Canada details line at 1-800-622-6232.
Who is not covered by the ESA?
Most employees and employers in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not use to some individuals and the individuals or organizations they work for, such as:
- staff members and companies in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, post workplaces, radio and television stations and inter-provincial trains.
- individuals working under a program approved by a college of used arts and technology or university.
- people working under a program that is authorized by a career 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 student is registered.
- people who do neighborhood participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
- policeman (except for the lie detectors provisions of the ESA, which do apply).
- inmates participating in work or rehabilitation programs, or people who work as part of a sentence or order of a court.
- people who hold political, judicial, spiritual or elected trade union workplaces.
- significant junior ice hockey gamers who satisfy certain conditions connected to scholarships.
- individuals who satisfy the meaning of organization consultant or infotech consultant under the ESA if particular conditions are satisfied.
For a complete listing of other individuals not governed by the ESA, please check the ESA and its policies.
Employee misclassification
Employers are prohibited from misclassifying workers as independent specialists, interns, volunteers or any other type of worker 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 readily available to help you:
- The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the source for the policies of the Director of Employment Standards respecting 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 readily available in lots of languages. You can reach the info centre from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.