{"id":46188,"date":"2012-05-25T17:40:34","date_gmt":"2012-05-25T21:40:34","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-05-04T09:46:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T13:46:30","slug":"does-esa-apply-all-workers","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers","title":{"rendered":"Employment Standards Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This resource is about your rights in Ontario&#8217;s Employment Standards Act (ESA). The ESA has minimum standards that employers must follow.<\/p>\n<h2>What jobs does the ESA cover?<\/h2>\n<p>Not all jobs are covered by the ESA. And for some jobs, only parts of the ESA apply.<\/p>\n<p>Some employers say that their workers are self-employed and the ESA does not apply to them. If this is your situation, it&#8217;s a good idea to get legal advice.<\/p>\n<p>The rights in the ESA might still apply to you, even if you signed something that says:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>you&#8217;re an independent contractor, or<\/li>\n<li>you&#8217;re in business for yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications\/rightswrk\/where-can-i-find-out-more-and-get-legal-help\">Legal help and information<\/a> for where to get legal help.<\/p>\n<p>Some industries are covered by the <strong>Canada Labour Code<\/strong>. This includes banks, airlines, some trucking businesses, and broadcasting. Like the ESA, the Canada Labour Code sets out rules that employers must follow.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, contact the Government of Canada&#8217;s Labour Program, Ontario Region at <strong>1-800-641-4049<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The ESA does <strong>not<\/strong> apply to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>students in work experience programs that a school board, college, or university has approved,<\/li>\n<li>people on social assistance who are doing community participation through Ontario Works,<\/li>\n<li>people in jail who are in work programs, and<\/li>\n<li>people ordered or sentenced by a court to work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You do not have to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or have a work permit to be covered by the ESA.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re not sure if you&#8217;re covered by the ESA, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications\/rightswrk\/where-can-i-find-out-more-and-get-legal-help\">Legal help and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-46188","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Employment Standards Act - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Employment Standards Act - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This resource is about your rights in Ontario&#8217;s Employment Standards Act (ESA). The ESA has minimum standards that employers must follow. What jobs does the ESA cover? Not all jobs are covered by the ESA. And for some jobs, only parts of the ESA apply. Some employers say that their workers are self-employed and the ESA does not apply to them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-04T13:46:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers\",\"name\":\"Employment Standards Act - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-25T21:40:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-04T13:46:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publication pages\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Employment Standards Act\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/\",\"name\":\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Employment Standards Act - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/does-esa-apply-all-workers","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Employment Standards Act - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","og_description":"This resource is about your rights in Ontario&#8217;s Employment Standards Act (ESA). 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