The Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”) is a key employment law statute setting certain minimum terms and conditions of employment applicable to most employees in Ontario.
Employers covered by the ESA are required to post “the most recent version” of the Ontario Ministry of Labour poster about rights and obligations under the ESA in the workplace where it is likely to come to the attention of employees. Employers must also provide employees with a copy of the poster within 30 days of their hire date.
The poster must be displayed in English. If the majority language of a workplace is a language other than English, and the Ministry has published a version of the poster in that language the employer is required to post a copy of the translation next to the English version of the poster. Employees must also be provided with available translations of the poster, upon request.
The recent Bill 148 reforms to the ESA have rendered the previous version of the poster out of date. As a result, the Ministry has published a new “streamlined” version 7.0 of the poster on its website. Copies of the poster can be downloaded in pdf format and printed free of charge. Currently only an English version and a French version are available. However, it is likely that the Ministry will translate the poster into other languages, as it did with outdated version 6.0.
Employers covered by the ESA must ensure that version 7.0 of the poster is posted in the workplace and a copy distributed to every employee in Ontario immediately. Failure to do so would be in violation of the ESA and could expose employers to enforcement action.
