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”) “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”) “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”) “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 an employee for whom the employer establishes an alternative vacation entitlement year, (a)  if the employee’s first alternative vacation entitlement year begins before the completion of his or her first 12 months of employment, the period that begins on the first day of employment and ends on the day before the start of the alternative vacation entitlement year, (b)  if the employee’s first alternative vacation entitlement year begins after the completion of his or her first 12 months of employment, the period that begins on the day after the day on which his or her most recent standard vacation entitlement year ended and ends on the day before the start of the alternative vacation entitlement year; (“période tampon”) “temporary help agency” means an employer that employs persons for the purpose of assigning them to perform work on a temporary basis for clients of the employer;  (“agence de placement temporaire”) “termination of assignment pay” means pay provided to an assignment employee when the employee’s assignment is terminated before the end of its estimated term under section 74.10.1; (“indemnité de fin d’affectation”) “tip or other gratuity” means, (a)  a payment voluntarily made to or left for an employee by a customer of the employee’s employer in such circumstances that a reasonable person would be likely to infer that the customer intended or assumed that the payment would be kept by the employee or shared by the employee with other employees, (b)  a payment voluntarily made to an employer by a customer in such circumstances that a reasonable person would be likely to infer that the customer intended or assumed that the payment would be redistributed to an employee or employees, (c)  a payment of a service charge or similar charge imposed by an employer on a customer in such circumstances that a reasonable person would be likely to infer that the customer intended or assumed that the payment would be redistributed to an employee or employees, and (d)  such other payments as may be prescribed, but does not include, (e)  such payments as may be prescribed, and (f)  such charges as may be prescribed relating to the method of payment used, or a prescribed portion of those charges; (“pourboire ou autre gratification”) “trade union” means an organization that represents employees in collective bargaining under any of the following: 1.  The Labour Relations Act, 1995. 2.  The Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act, 1993. 3.  The School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014. 4.  Part IX of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997. 5.  The Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008. 6.  Any prescribed Acts or provisions of Acts; (“syndicat”) “vacation entitlement year” means an alternative vacation entitlement year or a standard vacation entitlement year; (“année de référence”) “wages” means, (a)  monetary remuneration payable by an employer to an employee under the terms of an employment contract, oral or written, express or implied, (b)  any payment required to be made by an employer to an employee under this Act, and (c)  any allowances for room or board under an employment contract or prescribed allowances, but does not include, (d)  tips or other gratuities, (e)  any sums paid as gifts or bonuses that are dependent on the discretion of the employer and that are not related to hours, production or efficiency, (f)  expenses and travelling allowances, or (g)  subject to subsections 60 (3) or 62 (2), employer contributions to a benefit plan and payments to which an employee is entitled from a benefit plan; (“salaire”) “work week” means, (a)  a recurring period of seven consecutive days selected by the employer for the purpose of scheduling work, or (b)  if the employer has not selected such a period, a recurring period of seven consecutive days beginning on Sunday and ending on Saturday. (“semaine de travail”) 2000, c. 41, s. 1 (1); 2001, c. 9, Sched. I, s. 1 (1); 2002, c. 18, Sched. J, s. 3 (1, 2); 2007, c. 16, Sched. A, s. 1; 2008, c. 15, s. 85; 2014, c. 5, s. 48; 2017, c. 22, Sched. 1, s. 1 (1-10); 2018, c. 14, Sched. 1, s. 1; 2021, c. 9, s. 1; 2021, c. 25, Sched. 6, s. 1; 2021, c. 35, Sched. 2, s. 1; 2022, c. 7, Sched. 2, s. 1. Assignment to perform work includes training (2) For greater certainty, being assigned to perform work for a client of a temporary help agency includes being assigned to the client to receive training for the purpose of performing work for the client. 2017, c. 22, Sched. 1, s. 1 (11). Agreements in writing (3) Unless otherwise provided, a reference in this Act to an agreement between an employer and an employee or to an employer and an employee agreeing to something shall be deemed to be a reference to an agreement in writing or to their agreeing in writing to do something.  2000, c. 41, s. 1 (3). Electronic form (3.1) The requirement in subsection (3) for an agreement to be in writing is satisfied if the agreement is in electronic form. 2017, c. 22, Sched. 1, s. 1 (12). Exception (4) Nothing in subsection (3) requires an employment contract that is not a collective agreement to be in writing.  2000, c. 41, s. 1 (4). Section Amendments with date in force (d/m/y) 2001, c. 9, Sched. I, s. 1 (1) - 4/09/2001 2002, c. 18, Sched. J, s. 3 (1, 2) - 26/11/2002 2007, c. 16, Sched. A, s. 1 - 3/12/2007 2008, c. 15, s. 85
- 8/10/2008 2014, c. 5, s. 48 - 24/04/2014 2017, c. 22, Sched. 1, s. 1 (1, 3-12) - 01/01/2018; 2017, c. 22, Sched. 1, s. 1 (2) - 01/04/2018 2018, c. 14, Sched. 1, s. 1 (1-3) - 01/01/2019 2021, c. 9, s. 1 (1, 2)
- 29/04/2021; 2021, c. 25, Sched. 6, s. 1 - 03/06/2021; 2021, c. 35, Sched. 2, s. 1 - 01/07/2023 2022, c. 7, Sched. 2, s. 1 - 01/01/2023 Part II   Information Concerning Rights and Obligations