Ontario Pay Transparency and Job Postings: New Rules for 2025
In December 2024, Ontario’s provincial government announced the effective dates and published supporting regulating for new pay transparency and job posting requirements. These rules, which are consistent with emerging rules in Canada and other jurisdictions, provide the detail of new requirements under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). The effective dates for these changes are staggered – starting July 1, 2025, employers will need to provide certain prescribed information to employees, and the job posting requirements will become effective January 1, 2026.
Employment Information
Effective July 1, 2025, Ontario employers with 25 or more employees must provide to an employee in writing, before the employee’s first day or work or, if not practicable, as soon as reasonably possible after the employee’s first day of work, the following information:
The legal name of the employer, as well as any operating or business name of the employer if different from the legal name.
Contact information for the employer, including address, telephone number and one or more contact names.
A general description of where it is anticipated that the employee will initially perform work.
The employee’s starting hourly or other wage rate or commission, as applicable.
The pay period and pay day established by the employer in accordance with the “payment of wages” provisions of the ESA.
A general description of the employee’s initial anticipated hours of work.
The employment information obligations above will not apply to so-called assignment employees, which is a category of worker engagement through a temporary help agency.
Job Posting Requirements
Effective January 1, 2026, Ontario employers with 25 or more employees will have new obligations with respect to publicly-advertised job posting. For these purposes, a “publicly-advertised job posting” is an external job posting (available to those outside the organization) than an employer or person acting on behalf of the employer advertises to the general public in any manner. The following are excluded from these rules:
A general recruiting campaign which does not advertise a specific position;
A general help wanted sign that does not advertise for a specific position;
A posting for a position that is restricted to existing employees of the employer; and
A posting for a position which which the work is to be either: a) performed outside of Ontario; or b) performed both outside and in Ontario, and the work performed outside Ontario is not a continuation of work performed in Ontario.
The requirements which will apply to publicly-advertised job postings will be as follows:
Compensation Range: The posting will need to include information about the expected compensation for the position or a range of expected compensation. Any such compensation range is not permitted to exceed $50,000 annually. There is no requirement to include the compensation range for positions where the expected compensation (including the high end of any range) is more than $200,000 annually. For the purposes of these rules, “compensation” has the same broad meaning as “wages” within the meaning of the ESA.
Artificial Intelligence: The posting must include information about whether artificial intelligence is being used to screen, assess or select applicants for a position. For these purposes, “artificial intelligence” is defined as a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from the input it receives in order to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendation or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.
Existing Vacancy: The posting must also include a statement about whether the posting is for an existing vacancy with the organization.
Effective January 1, 2026, employers will also be subject to the following additional prohibitions and requirements:
Canadian Work Experience: Employers will be prohibited form including any requirements related to Canadian work experience in publicly-advertised job postings or any related application form which must be completed by candidates.
Informing Interviewees: Organizations must inform interviewees whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days of the last interview with the candidate. This information may be provided in person, in writing, or by using technology.
Record Retention: Employers will be required to retain (or arrange for another person to retain) copies of every publicly-advertised job posting and any associated application form for three years after access to the posting by the general public has been removed. Interview information must also be retained for three years after the day the information was provided to the candidate.
Takeaway for Employers
Ontario employers will need to review their hiring and documentation practices and procedures in order to ensure compliance with these new rules.