This information sheet gives a summary of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) rights for assignment employees of temporary help agencies.
The ESA is a law that sets minimum standards in most Ontario workplaces, such as the minimum wage, limits on hours of work, overtime pay, vacations, and unpaid leaves from work for certain reasons. Special rules and exemptions may apply depending on what kind of work you do.
You are an assignment employee of a temporary help agency if you and the agency have agreed that it will place or try to place you on temporary work assignments with a client business (or client businesses) of the agency. You have an employment relationship with the agency even when you are not on an assignment with a client business of the agency.
When you are on an assignment, the agency is still your employer; the client business is not your employer. If you quit the agency or if the agency ends their employment relationship with you, you stop being an assignment employee. For more information see Your Guide to the Employment Standards Act, 2000.
