Ontario Employers Take Note: Pending Changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000

Since 2021, the Ontario government has passed a series of bills each with some variation of the title, “Working for Workers Act.” These bills have amended a range of employment-related statutes, including the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA).

In this FTR Now, we review several recent amendments to the ESA that will be soon taking effect and the potential impact for employers.

New Long-Term Illness Leave: Effective June 19, 2025

On December 19, 2024, Ontario’s Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 (Act) received Royal Assent. This Act introduced a new unpaid “long-term illness leave” into the ESA, which will come into force on June 19, 2025.

The long-term illness leave provides up to 27 weeks of leave in a 52-week period, and is available to employees with at least 13 consecutive weeks of employment.

An employee is entitled to a long-term illness leave if two conditions are met:

(1) the employee will not be working because of a “serious medical condition”; and

(2) a “qualified health practitioner” issues a certificate that (i) states that the employee has a serious medical condition and (ii) sets out of the length of time the employee will not be working because of the condition.

While an employee is required to provide written notice to their employer that they will be taking a long-term illness leave, no specific length of notice is currently specified.

The employee is only entitled to take long-term illness leave for the period of time specified in the certificate, up to a maximum of 27 weeks. There is no requirement that the 27 weeks be consecutive. It would appear that the leave can be extended within the same 52-week period via another certificate if the original condition extends beyond the initial certificate duration or a new condition arises, and the 27 weeks of leave has not yet been exhausted. Further, long-term illness leave can be renewed in the next 52-week period if the condition continues or a new serious medical condition occurs.

Employers will need to consider how long-term illness leave will interact with existing contractual leave entitlements, disability benefits plans or policies, and the duty to accommodate. Return-to-work planning should incorporate both statutory obligations relating to long-term illness leave under the ESA and accommodation requirements under the Human Rights Code. Moreover, employers should be proactive in developing protocols for managing intermittent leave usage, as the non-consecutive nature of the leave may create operational challenges that require careful planning.

New Requirements To Provide Information To Employees: Effective July 1, 2025

As we originally discussed in our December 4, 2024 FTR Now (“Key ‘In Force’ Dates Under Working for Workers Four Act, 2024 and Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 Now Proclaimed and Regulations Released”), the government has prescribed information that “must be provided to an employee or a prospective employee, in writing, and when the information must be provided.”

Effective July 1, 2025, employers with 25 or more employees must provide an employee with the following information, in writing, before the employee’s first day of work or, if not practicable, as soon after that day as is reasonably possible:

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 subsection 11(1) of the ESA;
A general description of the employee’s initial anticipated hours of work.

This new requirement does not apply with respect to assignment employees of temporary help agencies (in light of the existing obligations to provide a range of information to assignment employees under Part XVIII.1 of the ESA).

Employers will need to carefully consider how to incorporate this information into employment agreements or other offers of employment to ensure that all information is provided in a timely fashion without undermining the integrity of the employment contract.

New Requirements For Publicly Advertised Job Postings: Effective January 1, 2026

As we also addressed in greater detail in our December 4, 2024 FTR Now, the ESA has also been amended to impose new requirements related to publicly advertised job postings that will come into force on January 1, 2026. The new requirements will apply only to employers that employ 25 or more employees on the day the publicly advertised job posting is posted.

Subject to certain exceptions, a “publicly advertised job posting” means “an external job posting that an employer or a person acting on behalf of an employer advertises to the general public in any manner.”

The new requirements include:

Pay Transparency: Postings must include information about the expected compensation or range of expected compensation. The compensation range cannot exceed $50,000. This information does not need to be included in a posting if the expected compensation or upper limit of the range of expected compensation exceeds $200,000.
Canadian Experience: Postings and associated application forms cannot include any requirement related to Canadian experience.
Existing Vacancy: Postings must include a statement disclosing whether or not the posting is for an existing vacancy.
Artificial Intelligence: Every employer who uses artificial intelligence to screen, assess or select applicants shall include in the posting a statement disclosing the use of artificial intelligence.
Duty To Inform Applicants Interviewed: Employers must inform each applicant interviewed of whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days of the applicant’s final interview. Applicants may be informed in person, in writing or using technology.
Record Keeping Requirements: In each case for a period of three years, employers must retain copies of every posting and any associated application form after public access to the posting is removed, as well as all prescribed information provided to an applicant who has been interviewed after the day the information was provided to the applicant.

A more detailed discussion of the requirements can be found in our December 2024 FTR Now, which readers are encouraged to consult. Employers should begin to develop procedures for managing their publicly accessible job postings to ensure that they meet the new requirements, including the new record-keeping obligations.

New Placement Of A Child Leave: Effective Date Not Yet Announced

The Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 also introduced a new “placement of a child leave,” which provides employees with up to 16-weeks of leave without pay, triggered by the placement or arrival of a child into the employee’s custody, care and control for the first time through adoption or surrogacy. The date when this leave will come into force has yet to be announced.

The new leave is likely in response to the announcement in 2023 of a new benefit under the Employment Insurance Act for placement leave benefits of up to 15 weeks, as well as a similar 16-week leave under the Canada Labour Code (both passed in 2024 as part of Bill C-59, but neither of which has yet been proclaimed in force).

The new leave is largely designed to mirror the ESA’s pregnancy leave provisions, and would be in addition to parental leave that is already available to new parents in adoption and surrogacy situations. It will be available to employees who have been employed for 13 consecutive weeks or more. The leave must be taken in a single period of up to 16 weeks. While it can be shared by parents, the total leave time cannot exceed 16 weeks.

Other provisions are intended to ensure that if there are multiple placements of children occurring on the same day, or within a prescribed period, there will only be entitlement to a single leave. As with pregnancy leave, there are a range of notice requirements that employers will want to review.

Employers who have top-up plans for employees who take existing pregnancy and parental leave will need to consider the impact of the new placement of a child leave on such plans, especially where such benefits have been provided through collective agreements.

Should you have any questions about the pending changes to the ESA, and how such changes may impact your workplace, please contact your regular Hicks Morley lawyer.

The article in this client update provides general information and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. This publication is copyrighted by Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP and may not be photocopied or reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the express permission of Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP. ©

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