ON TIPPING:

Employers can decide whether or not tipping is allowed in their businesses. If tipping is not allowed, the employer should make it clear to his or her customers that tips and other gratuities will not be accepted by employees or the employer.

The Employment Standards Act doesn’t regulate which businesses can or cannot gather tips. But if employers or employees receive tips, they are regulated by the ESA — which says employers are generally not allowed to take workers’ tips, make deductions from their tips, or make employees return tips or give them to their boss.

Read more:

Scarborough Tim Hortons workers banned from accepting tips after wage hike

ON BREAKS:

An employee must be given a 30-minute eating period within the first five hours of their shift. The eating period does not need to be paid unless your employment contract states otherwise.

There is no minimum requirement to give employees coffee breaks or any other kind of break other than eating periods.

There are exemptions to some basic standards, including break periods, which impact some professions. Those exemptions are currently under government review. The Ministry of Labour’s online “Special Rule Tool” allows you to see whether you may be affected by any exemptions.

HOURS OF WORK:

For most employees, the daily limit is either eight hours OR their regular work day as established with their employer. But employees cannot be required to work more than 48 hours in a week.

Employers can apply to receive special approval from the province’s Director of Employment Standards to exceed the 48-hour-a-week limit if their workers consent through an electronic of written agreement.

MINIMUM WAGE:

The general minimum wage in Ontario is $14 an hour. It will rise to $15 an hour next year.

The student minimum wage, for those under 18 who work 28 hours a week or less, is $13.15 an hour.

Liquor servers’ minimum wage is currently $12.20 per hour

Home workers have a slightly higher minimum wage — $15.40 an hour.

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EMPLOYEE VS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR:

Employees are entitled to protection under the Employment Standards Act and are entitled to the minimum wage. Independent contractors are not.

There is a five-part test to determine if you are an employee. Generally, if the business controls and directs your work — including determining what you do, how much you are paid, when the work needs to be completed by, and how and where it must be completed — you are an employee.

Other indicators include if the business provides you with tools or equipment to do your job and if it has the ability to suspend, dismiss, or discipline you.

Recent updates to the ESA mean it is now explicitly prohibited to misclassify an employee. The onus is on the employer to prove the worker is not an employee.

You may still be considered an employee even if you agreed to be an independent contractor, use your own vehicle for work, or don’t have statutory deductions like tax and Employment Insurance.

Find out more here: https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/pubs/index.php#three

Ministry of Labour Employment Standards hotline:

GTA: 416-326-7160

Canada-wide: 1-800-531-5551

TTY: 1-866-567-8893