Employment Standards
As soon as you are employed, your employer and you must abide by some related standards and laws.
What is the Employment Standards Act?
The Employment Standards Act, 2000, which is known as the ESA, is a law that lays minimum standards for fair workplace practices in Ontario.
Who is protected by the ESA?
You are more than likely sheltered by the ESA if you work in Ontario, but it does not cover federal employees and some employees in other special classifications. There are also exceptions and special regulations for some workers under the law. You can consult the Ministry of Labor to find out how you are protected by the ESA.
What are the primary rights protected by the ESA?
·Hours of Work
·Employees cannot be compelled to work more than 8 hours in an established work day; or
·48 hours a week.
Employees can agree to sign legal documents to work more than these limits. If they want to work more than 60 hours a week, the Director of Employment Standards must ratify the agreement.
Overtime
Employers must give overtime pay to most employees after 44 hours of work each week. The overtime rate must be at least 1½ times the regular rate of pay.
Payment
Employees must be paid on a regular, recurring payday and given a declaration stating their salaries and deductions for that pay period.
Vacation Time and Pay
After every 12 months of employment, most employees gain at least 2 weeks of vacation time. Employees are authorized to be paid at least 4% of their total wages as their vacation pay.
Public Holidays
A public holiday is a day off work, with public holiday pay. There are eight public holidays every year in Ontario. Most employees are granted public holidays off in spite of how long they've been working and whether they're part-time, full-time, permanent, a student, or on a short-term contract.
Pregnancy Leave and Parental Leave
Female employees are entitled to have 17 weeks of Pregnancy Leave and 35 weeks of Parental Leave (if they’ve taken Pregnancy Leave before). All other eligible parents, involving pregnant employees who don't take Pregnancy Leave, have the right to take up to 37 weeks of Parental Leave. These leaves are unpaid but job-protected.
Family Medical Leave
Employees can take Family Medical Leave to take care of certain family members who have a serious disease with a great risk of dying within a period of 26 weeks. It is unpaid, job-protected leave of up to 8 weeks in every 26-week period.
Emergency Leave
If the number of regular employees in a company is more than 50 people, the employees are permitted to take up to 10 days a year of unpaid, job-protected Emergency Leave. This leave is for personal illness, medical emergency, or injury, or for the illness, injury, medical emergency, death, or urgent matter of their family members.
Termination Notice and Pay
If an employee has been working constantly for 3 months or more and his or her job is terminated, an employer must give him or her written notice in advance, or termination pay instead of notice, or a combination of both. The amount of notice or pay hinges on how long the employee has been working for the employer and the number of employees being terminated.
The Ministry of Labor
If an employee believes that an employer is not observing the ESA law, he or she can go into the Ministry of Labor for aid. Employment Standards Officers will look into workplaces and investigate any possible violation of the ESA.
The Ministry of Labor will demand employers:
·follow the rules of the ESA
·give back a job to an employee
·pay the wages that are owing to employees
·indemnify an employee
An employer may also be charged with an offence by the Ministry of Labor. If convicted, employers may be fined or sent to prison.
NOTE: If they think their rights have been infringed, unionized employees should first speak to their union representative before going to the Ministry of Labor.
Filing a Claim
An employee can write a claim, a written explanation that involves important information about the employee, the job and the employer, to express his or her complaint.
The process of filing a claim is free. An employer cannot chastise an employee for filing a claim.
There are 3 steps to filing a claim:
1. Contact the Ministry of Labor as soon as you can. After speaking with staff at the Ministry of Labor, an employee may choose to file a claim or not. Experienced staff at the Ministry of Labor can offer useful information and help the employee fill in the claim form.
2. Fill out a claim form. You can get forms at Ministry of Labor offices, Government Information Centres and online.
3. File the claim form at any Ministry of Labor office.
Once a claim is filed, ministry staff will make great efforts to help settle the problem between the employee and employer. If the issue cannot be settled, an inspection may start. Claims will be investigated as quickly and thoroughly as possible. The time it takes to finish the process varies.
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