Your Guide to The Employment Standards Act

This guide is a convenient source of information about key areas of the ESA. It is for your information and support only. It is not a legal file. If you require details or specific language, please refer to the ESA itself and its regulations.

This guide needs to not be utilized as or considered legal advice. You might have higher rights under an employment agreement, employment collective agreement, the typical law or other legislation. If you're unsure about anything in this guide, please talk with a lawyer.

Topics covered by the ESA?

These consist of:

advantage plans
bereavement leave
child death leave
crime-related kid disappearance leave
crucial health problem leave
stated emergency leave
domestic or leave
the work standards poster: distribution requirements
equal spend for equivalent work
family caregiver leave
household medical leave
household responsibility leave
submitting a claim
hours of work, eating periods and pause
transmittable illness emergency situation leave
licensing - short-lived assistance firms and employers
lie detector tests
base pay
non-compete contracts
organ donor leave
overtime pay
payment of earnings
pregnancy and parental leave
public vacations
reservist leave
severance of employment
sick leave
short-term assistance agencies
termination of employment and short-term layoffs
ideas or gratuities
trip.
written policy on disconnecting from work.
written policy on electronic tracking of staff members.
Reprisals are prohibited

Employers are prohibited from punishing staff members in any method since the staff member exercised ESA rights.

Clients of short-lived aid firms are prohibited from punishing task workers in any method due to the fact that the project worker exercised ESA rights.

Recruiters are restricted from penalizing potential staff members who engage or utilize the recruiter's services in any method for certain reasons, including asking the employer to comply with the Act or investigating about whether a person holds a licence as needed by the ESA.

Employers, customers of momentary help firms and recruiters who devote a reprisal can be:

- purchased to compensate the employee, project employee or potential staff member.
- bought to renew the staff member or task staff member (if the reprisal was dedicated by an employer or customer of a temporary help firm).
- bought to pay a penalty.
- prosecuted.
Find out more about reprisals.

Greater right or advantage

If a provision in an employment agreement or another Act provides 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 standard.

No waiving of rights

No worker can accept waive or offer up their rights under the ESA (for example, the right to get overtime pay or public vacation pay). Any such agreement 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 provision of the ESA was contravened. Examples consist of:

- an order to pay.
- a compliance order.
- a ticket.
- a notice of contravention with a financial penalty.
- an order to renew and/or compensate.
- prosecution.
Other workplace-related laws

The ESA consists of only a few of the guidelines affecting operate in Ontario. Other provincial and federal legislation governs issues such as workplace health and wellness, 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 additional information 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 impacting offices include statutes on income tax, work insurance coverage and the Canada Pension Plan.

To learn more 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 companies in Ontario are covered by the ESA. However, the ESA does not use to some people and employment the people or employment organizations they work for, such as:

- employees and employers in sectors that fall under federal work law jurisdiction, such as airlines, banks, the federal civil service, post offices, radio and television stations and inter-provincial trains.
- people working under a program approved by a college of used arts and innovation 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 operates the school in which the trainee is registered.
- people who do community involvement under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
- authorities officers (except for the lie detectors arrangements of the ESA, which do apply).
- inmates participating 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 chosen trade union workplaces.
- major junior ice hockey gamers who fulfill certain conditions related to scholarships.
- individuals who satisfy the definition of business consultant or employment infotech expert under the ESA if specific conditions are satisfied.
For a complete listing of other individuals not governed by the ESA, please inspect the ESA and its guidelines.

Employee misclassification

Employers are forbidden from misclassifying workers as independent professionals, interns, volunteers or any other kind 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 additional resources offered to assist you:

- The Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual is the primary reference 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 offered to address your concerns 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.