Employment Standards Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 41 (Historical version for the period January 1, 2023 to June 7, 2023)

• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Coming into Force: 01 January 2023
• End of Effective Date: 07 June 2023
• Status: historical

Employment Standards Act, 2000

S.O. 2000, Chapter 41

Consolidation Period: From January 1, 2023 to the e-Laws currency date.

Last amendment: 2022, c. 7, Sched. 2.

CONTENTS

part i
definitions

Definitions

1 (1) In this Act,

“agent” includes a trade union that represents an employee in collective bargaining; (“mandataire”)

“alternative vacation entitlement year” means, with respect to an employee, a recurring 12-month period that begins on a date chosen by the employer, other than the first day of the employee’s employment; (“année de référence différente”)

“arbitrator” includes,

(a) a board of arbitration, and

(b) the Board, when it is acting under section 133 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995; (“arbitre”)

“assignment employee” means an employee employed by a temporary help agency for the purpose of being assigned to perform work on a temporary basis for clients of the agency; (“employé ponctuel”)

“benefit plan” means a benefit plan provided for an employee by or through his or her employer; (“régime d’avantages sociaux”)

“Board” means the Ontario Labour Relations Board; (“Commission”)

“building services” means services for a building with respect to food, security and cleaning and any prescribed services for a building; (“services de gestion d’immeubles”)

“building services provider” or “provider” means a person who provides building services for a premises and includes the owner or manager of a premises if the owner or manager provides building services for premises the person owns or manages; (“fournisseur de services de gestion d’immeubles”, “fournisseur”)

“business” includes an activity, trade or undertaking; (“entreprise”)

“business consultant” means an individual who provides advice or services to a business or organization in respect of its performance, including advice or services in respect of the operations, profitability, management, structure, processes, finances, accounting, procurements, human resources, environmental impacts, marketing, risk management, compliance or strategy of the business or organization; (“conseiller commercial”)

“client”, in relation to a temporary help agency, means a person or entity that enters into an arrangement with the agency under which the agency agrees to assign or attempt to assign one or more of its assignment employees to perform work for the person or entity on a temporary basis; (“client”)

“collector” means a person, other than an employment standards officer, who is authorized by the Director to collect an amount owing under this Act; (“agent de recouvrement”)

“continuous operation” means an operation or that part of an operation that normally continues 24 hours a day without cessation in each seven-day period until it is concluded for that period; (“exploitation à fonctionnement ininterrompu”)

“Director” means the Director of Employment Standards; (“directeur”)

“domestic or sexual violence leave pay” means pay for any paid days of leave taken under section 49.7; (“indemnité de congé en cas de violence familiale ou sexuelle”)

“employee” includes,

(a) a person, including an officer of a corporation, who performs work for an employer for wages,

(b) a person who supplies services to an employer for wages,

(c) a person who receives training from a person who is an employer, if the skill in which the person is being trained is a skill used by the employer’s employees, or

(d) a person who is a homeworker,

and includes a person who was an employee; (“employé”)

“employer” includes,

(a) an owner, proprietor, manager, superintendent, overseer, receiver or trustee of an activity, business, work, trade, occupation, profession, project or undertaking who has control or direction of, or is directly or indirectly responsible for, the employment of a person in it, and

(b) any persons treated as one employer under section 4, and includes a person who was an employer; (“employeur”)

“employment contract” includes a collective agreement; (“contrat de travail”)

“employment standard” means a requirement or prohibition under this Act that applies to an employer for the benefit of an employee; (“norme d’emploi”)

“establishment”, with respect to an employer, means a location at which the employer carries on business but, if the employer carries on business at more than one location, separate locations constitute one establishment if,

(a) the separate locations are located within the same municipality, or

(b) one or more employees at a location have seniority rights that extend to the other location under a written employment contract whereby the employee or employees may displace another employee of the same employer; (“établissement”)

Note: On a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, subsection 1 (1) of the Act is amended by adding the following definition: (See: 2021, c. 35, Sched. 2, s. 1)

“foreign national” has the same meaning as in the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009; (“étranger”)

“homeworker” means an individual who performs work for compensation in premises occupied by the individual primarily as residential quarters but does not include an independent contractor; (“travailleur à domicile”)

“hospital” means a hospital as defined in the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act; (“hôpital”)

“infectious disease emergency leave pay” means pay for any paid days of leave taken under subsection 50.1 (1.2); (“indemnité de congé spécial en raison d’une maladie infectieuse”)

“information technology consultant” means an individual who provides advice or services to a business or organization in respect of its information technology systems, including advice about or services in respect of planning, designing, analyzing, documenting, configuring, developing, testing and installing the business’s or organization’s information technology systems; (“conseiller en technologie de l’information”)

“labour relations officer” means a labour relations officer appointed under the Labour Relations Act, 1995; (“agent des relations de travail”)

Note: On a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, subsection 1 (1) of the Act is amended by adding the following definition: (See: 2021, c. 35, Sched. 2, s. 1)

“licence” means a licence issued under Part XVIII.1; (“permis”)

“Minister” means the Minister of Labour; (“ministre”)

“Ministry” means the Ministry of Labour; (“ministère”)

“overtime hour”, with respect to an employee, means,

(a) if one or more provisions in the employee’s employment contract or in another Act that applies to the employee’s employment provides a greater benefit for overtime than Part VIII (Overtime Pay), an hour of work in excess of the overtime threshold set out in that provision, and

(b) otherwise, an hour of work in excess of the overtime threshold under this Act that applies to the employee’s employment; (“heure supplémentaire”)

“person” includes a trade union; (“personne”)

“premium pay” means an employee’s entitlement for working on a public holiday as described in subsection 24 (2); (“salaire majoré”)

“prescribed” means prescribed by the regulations; (“prescrit”)

“public holiday” means any of the following:

1. New Year’s Day.

1.1 Family Day, being the third Monday in February.

2. Good Friday.

3. Victoria Day.

4. Canada Day.

5. Labour Day.

6. Thanksgiving Day.

7. Christmas Day.

8. December 26.

9. Any day prescribed as a public holiday; (“jour férié”)

“public holiday pay” means an employee’s entitlement with respect to a public holiday as determined under subsection 24 (1); (“salaire pour jour férié”)

Note: On a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, subsection 1 (1) of the Act is amended by adding the following definition: (See: 2021, c. 35, Sched. 2, s. 1)

“recruiter” has the meaning set out in the regulations; (“recruteur”)

“regular rate” means, subject to any regulation made under paragraph 10 of subsection 141 (1),

(a) for an employee who is paid by the hour, the amount earned for an hour of work in the employee’s usual work week, not counting overtime hours,

(b) otherwise, the amount earned in a given work week divided by the number of non-overtime hours actually worked in that week; (“taux horaire normal”)

“regular wages” means wages other than overtime pay, public holiday pay, premium pay, vacation pay, domestic or sexual violence leave pay, infectious disease emergency leave pay, termination pay, severance pay and termination of assignment pay and entitlements under a provision of an employee’s contract of employment that under subsection 5 (2) prevail over Part VIII, Part X, Part XI, section 49.7, subsection 50.1 (1.2), Part XV or section 74.10.1; (“salaire normal”)

“regular work day”, with respect to an employee who usually works the same number of hours each day, means a day of that many hours; (“journée normale de travail”)

“regular work week”, with respect to an employee who usually works the same number of hours each week, means a week of that many hours but not including overtime hours; (“semaine normale de travail”)

“regulations” means the regulations made under this Act; (“règlements”)

“reservist” means a member of the reserve force of the Canadian Forces referred to in subsection 15 (3) of the National Defence Act (Canada); (“réserviste”)

“standard vacation entitlement year” means, with respect to an employee, a recurring 12-month period that begins on the first day of the employee’s employment; (“année de référence normale”)

“statutory notice period” means,

(a) the period of notice of termination required to be given by an employer under Part XV, or

(b) where the employer provides a greater amount of notice than is required under Part XV, that part of the notice period ending with the termination date specified in the notice which equals the period of notice required under Part XV; (“délai de préavis prévu par la loi”)

“stub period” means, with respect to...