By Eleanor Binder

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Employment Standards
Know Your Rights!

• By Eleanor Binder

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What is a union?

• A union is an organization of workers who
  join together in order to have a voice in
  improving their job quality and to bargain with
  the employer for better working conditions.

Unions help to protect workers from unfair,
arbitrary or even malicious behavior by
management and employers.
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How is a union formed ?

• Employees are asked to sign a union card.
• Upon obtaining the signatures of a solid majority
  of the employees in the company, a bargaining
  unit is formed.
• The cards are then submitted to The Ontario
  Labour Relations Board (OLRB)
• The OLRB is a government agency that oversees
  union/management relations.

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Labour Relations Board

• The Board is an adjudicative agency of the
  Government of Ontario and its' staff is appointed
  under the Public Service Act. The bargaining unit
  is finalized either by the OLRB or by collective
  agreement between the company and union.

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The Collective Agreement

• Management and a bargaining committee negotiate a
  collective agreement, with the help of lawyers.
• When the collective agreement is finalized, a
  radification date is set and majority vote wins.
• Tensions mount high at this critical time as both
  the company and union supporters aggressively
  engage in a war of the workers.

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Who is informed of anemployee's union status ?

• When the work place has a voluntary union, only
  the union and the OLRB, know the names of union
  members. This information is not revealed to the
  employer.

• Union stewards must be union members and so
  reveal themselves as members.

• Some work places have mandatory unions, as a
  condition of employment, so you must join the
  union.

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What is a Collective Agreementand how is it
negotiated ?
A collective agreement is a document which lays
out the employment standards for a unionized
workplace.

• The agreementcontains at the very least, all
  statutes laid out by the Employment Standards
  Act.
• It also must guarantee that there will be no
  strikes or lock-outs as long as the agreement is
  effect.

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The Collective Agreement

• The timespan of the agreement is negotiated
  between the union's bargaining unit appointees
  and management's representatives.
• Other provisions which maybe negotiated into
  thecollective agreement are

• Safety issues.

• Overtime procedures.

• Wage increases.

• Promotion procedures.

• Religious holidays.

• Anything that workers are willing to negotiate
  with employers.

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How is the CollectiveAgreement Implemented ?

• When an employee does not follow the rules of
  the Collective Agreement, management is given
  recourse in the form of a procedure called a
  grievance. The grievance is a formal written
  report detailing the rules which have been broken
  and the consequences management will

• apply to the employee.
• The grievance is handled by the union's shop
  steward and is brought to the attention of a
  mediator-arbitrator for the purpose of resolving
  the grievance in an expeditious and informal
  manner.

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How are Union Services paid for ?

• The employer is required to deduct union dues
  from the wages of each employee in the unit
  affected by the collective agreement, whether or
  not the employee is a member of the union,

and to remit the amount to the trade union.
Stewards may or may not be paid for time spent on
union business, depending on the employer.
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What is the Employment Standards Act ?

• Hours of Work

• Employment standards are enforced under the
  Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) which sets
  out the minimum standards that employers and
  employees must follow. The ESA is a law that sets
  minimum standards for workplaces in Ontario.

• Overtime

• Minimum Wage

• Vacation

• Public Holidays

• Pregnancy andParental Leave

• Personal Emergency Leave

• Family Medical Leave

• Termination of Employment

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Who is protected by the ESA ?

• If you are employed in Ontario, you are
  probably protected by the ESA. It does not cover
  federal employees and a few individuals in other
  special categories. There are exceptions and
  special rules for some workers under the law.

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Hours of Work

• Generally, employees cannot be required or
  permitted to work more than
• 8 hours a day or the number of hours in an
  established work day if it is more than 8.
• 48 hours a week.

• An employee can agree in writing to work more
  than these limits. Such agreements are valid only
  if the employer gives the employee (where there
  is no trade union) an information sheet prepared
  by the ministry about hours of work and overtime
  before the agreement is made, and the agreement
  states that the employee received the information
  sheet.

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Overtime

• Most employees must be paid overtime pay
  after 44 hours of work each week. The overtime
  rate must be at least 1½ times the regular rate
  of pay.

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Minimum Wage and Pay Day

• This is the lowest hourly rate an employer can
  pay an employee.
• Employees must be paid on a regular, recurring
  payday and given a statement showing their wages
  and deductions for that pay period.

February 1, 2007 March 31, 2008 March 31, 2009 March 31, 2010
General Minimum Wage 8.00per hour 8.75per hour 9.50per hour 10.25per hour
Student Minimum Wage 7.50per hour 8.20per hour 8.90per hour 9.60per hour
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Vacation Time and Pay

• Most employees earn at least 2 weeks of vacation
  time after every 12 months of employment.
• Employees are entitled to be paid at least 4 of
  their total wages earned as vacation pay.

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Public Holidays

• A public holiday is a day off work, with public
  holiday pay.
• Ontario has nine public holidays every year.
• Most employees are allowed to take public
  holidays off regardless of how long they have
  been working and whether they are full-time,
  part-time, permanent, a student, or on a
  limited-term contract..

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Canadian Civic Holidays

• New Year's Day - January 1
• Good Friday - varies in March or April
• Easter Monday - varies in March or April
• Victoria Day - Monday preceding May 25
• Canada Day - July 1
• Labour Day - first Monday of September
• Thanksgiving Day - second Monday of October
• Remembrance Day - November 11
• Christmas Day - Decemeber 25
• Boxing Day - Dececember 26

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Pregnancy Leave and Parental Leave

• Eligible employees are entitled to take 17 weeks
  of pregnancy leave and 35 weeks of parental leave
  (if they have taken pregnancy leave).
• All other eligible parents, including pregnant
  employees who do not take pregnancy leave, can
  take up to 37 weeks of parental leave.
• These are unpaid, job-protected leaves.

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Personal Emergency Leave

• If an employer regularly employs at least 50
  people, its workers are allowed to take up to 10
  days a year of unpaid, job-protected personal
  emergency leave.
• This leave is for personal illness, injury, or
  medical emergency, or for the death, illness,
  injury, medical emergency or urgent matter of
  certain family members.

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Family Medical Leave

• Employees can take family medical leave to
  provide care or support to
• Certain family members
• People who consider the employee to be like a
  family member and

• Who have a serious illness with a significant
  risk of dying within a period of 26 weeks.
• It is unpaid, job-protected leave of up to 8
  weeks in a 26-week period.

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Termination Notice and Pay

• An employer MUST give an employee advance
  written notice, termination pay instead of
  notice, or a combination of both, if the employee
  has been working continuously for 3 months or
  more and his or her job is terminated. The amount
  of notice or pay dependson how long theemployee
  has been working for the employer and the number
  of employees being terminated in a 4-week period.

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Probationary Period

• The employer has the right to place a new
  employee on a continuous 3 month probationary
  period.
• The employees performance will be monitorred.
• If performance is not adequate, the employee can
  be dismissed with nofault to the employer.

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Probationary Tips
Treat everyone politely and study your training
manual !
Do not takeextra long breaks or lunches and take
them on time !
Be on time. Be punctual. Do not be late !
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Performance Evaluation

• Employers should establish, maintain and endorse
  a standardized set of relevant benchmarks that
  can be applied to all employees.
• The evaluation should be a fair and balanced
  assessment of an employee's performance and
  should address

• accomplishments

• service and relationships

• dependability

• adaptability and flexibility

• decision making or problem solving.

• It should list goals and objectives for the
  employee to meet during the coming year and
  include time frames for when goals are to be met.

• Employees should understand and sign off on any
  evaluation protocols, formal warnings and
  suspensions.

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Employees cannot be punishedfor claiming their
rights

• Employers cannot intimidate, fire, suspend,
  or otherwise punish an employee, or threaten any
  of these actions because the employee asks for or
  asks about their ESA rights. If this happens,
  contact the Ministry of Labour.

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The Ministry of Labour can help

• If an employee thinks that an employer is not
  following the ESA, he or she can contact the
  Ministry of Labour for help. Employment Standards
  Officers can inspect workplaces and look into
  possible violations of the ESA.

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Compensation

• Employers canbe ordered to
• Pay the wages thatare owing to employees.
• Give an employee back their job.
• Follow the rules of the ESA.
• Compensate an employee.

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Employer Offences

• The Ministry of Labour can also charge an
  employer with an offence, including a ticket.
• If convicted, employers may be fined or sent to
  jail.

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In Summary

• We all should enjoy our work and be sure to

. . . Know Your Rights !!
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Credits
Information for this presentation provided by the
Ontario Ministry of Labour Web site
at http//www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/brochur
es/br_rights.html

• Unionized employees should speak to their
  union representative before contacting the
  Ministry of Labour if they believe that their
  rights have been violated.