How much does my employer have to pay me?

Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA) has minimum standards that employers must follow. This includes rules about minimum wage.

The minimum wage amounts below apply as of October 1, 2020.

In most jobs, you must be paid the general minimum wage of at least $14.25 an hour.

If you work serving alcohol in a place where you usually get tips, you must be paid at least $12.45 an hour.

If you’re a , you must be paid at least $15.70 an hour. Homeworkers are employees who do work out of their own homes.

Wages for students

If you’re a student under the age of 18, your minimum wage is usually $13.40 an hour. But sometimes students get a different hourly rate. For example:

If you work more than 28 hours a week during the school term, you must be paid the general minimum wage for that week.
If you work as a homeworker, you must be paid the minimum wage for homeworkers.
If you’re working as part of the coursework of your college or university program, the company does not have to pay you.
If you’re doing a “work experience placement” and getting a high school credit for it, for example, as a co-op student, the employer does not have to pay you.
If you work as a counsellor at a children’s camp, minimum wage rules do not apply to you.

Getting tips

If you work some place where people leave tips, like a restaurant or a hair or nail salon, your employer can decide what happens to the tips.

In the ESA, tips are not counted as . So even if you get to keep money from tips, your employer still has to pay you minimum wage.