[ contents ]
21. Reprisals
Employers are prohibited from penalizing employees in any way for:
- asking the employer to comply with the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) and the regulations
- asking questions about rights under the ESA
- filing a complaint under the ESA
- exercising or trying to exercise a right under the ESA
- giving information to an employment standards officer
- taking, planning on taking, being eligible or becoming eligible for a parental, pregnancy, personal emergency, declared emergency, family medical leave, or reservist leave
- being subject to a garnishment order (i.e., to have a certain amount deducted directly from wages to satisfy a debt)
- participating in a proceeding under the ESA
- participating in a proceeding under section 4 of the Retail Business Holidays Act (regarding tourism exemptions that allow retail businesses to open on holidays)
- refusing to take a lie detector test
- refusing Sunday work (for certain retail workers only).
An employer that does penalize an employee for any of these reasons can be ordered by an employment standards officer to:
- reinstate an employee to his or her job
- compensate an employee for any loss incurred because of a violation of the ESA
- pay the employee any wages that may be owing.
| See also: |
