As you may have seen in our recent blog posts related to Working for Workers Seven Act, employers with employees in Ontario have new obligations to consider as of January 1, 2026. New rules come into effect relating to publicly advertised job posting including with respect to compensation transparency, use of “artificial intelligence”, and related requirements.
Which organizations are affected by these new rules?
The rules below apply to all employers in Ontario with 25 or more employees on the date that a public advertisement job posting is posted.
What is a “publicly advertised job posting”?
The regulations to the Employment Standards Act, 2000, include a definition of a “publicly advertised job posting”, as an “external job posting”, but the regulations note that the definition does not include a general recruitment campaign not advertising a specific position; a “help wanted” sign; a posting that is restricted to existing employees of the employer; and a posting for work outside of Ontario.
Practically speaking, most job postings on online platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and similar platforms will be captured by these rules.
What are the requirements relating to compensation?
As of January 1, 2026, any publicly advertised job posting must include the expected compensation of the job or the salary range of the job with a maximum spread of $50,000 in the salary range. This means that, for example, a job posting for a job that pays between $50,000 and $100,000 would be acceptable, but a range of $50,000 to $110,000 would not be acceptable under the new rules.
Roles whose expected compensation exceeds $200,000 per annum are exempt from these rules meaning that such advertisements do not need to disclose the expected compensation.
What about use of artificial intelligence?
The new rules do not prohibit or otherwise prevent an employer from using such services or products to scan candidates. Employers who do use such services in screening their candidates will be required to disclose their use on the publicly advertised job posting.
Are there further requirements?
Employers will no longer be permitted to require “Canadian experience” on any publicly advertised job positing. Employers are still permitted to require general levels of experience for the roles they are advertising.
In addition, employers are required to disclose the vacancy status of the position they are advertising on the publicly advertised job posting. This means that a statement that the job posting must disclose whether the posting is for an existing vacancy or not.
Employers will also be required to notify individuals that they interviewed pursuant to a publicly advertised job posting. The notification will need to be done within 45 days of the interview, or the final interview if multiple interviews are in question. The notification must inform the interviewee whether a hiring decision was made regarding the advertised job.
Finally, employers will be required to retain copies of every publicly advertised job posting, applications made pursuant to those job postings, and records of the information provided to interviewed application, for three years from the date the job posting is taken down.
What should employers be doing?
Employers should follow the requirements and ensure their systems and processes are adapted to the rules. In particular employers should be ensuring that any forms, templates, or similar items used for job postings are updated including compensation, artificial intelligence use, vacancy status while removing any Canadian experience requirements.
Employers should also be prepared to notify candidates that they interview and retain records for three years as required.
Who can I contact for assistance?
Bridge Legal & HR Solutions can assist with getting you into compliance today. To find out how we can help, contact us through our contact form or call us at 647-794-5442.
