Employee monitoring law · Ontario
A written electronic monitoring policy is mandatory at 25+ employees, refreshed annually.
At 25 or more employees, publish a written electronic monitoring policy and refresh it every year.
- Region
- North America
- Instruments
- 2 governing
- Employer duties
- 3 listed
- Last reviewed
- August 22, 2026
Ontario · what the law requires
Notice and proportionality
Ontario is the clearest statutory duty in Canada. Employers with 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January must have a written policy on electronic monitoring in place by 1 March of that year, and give every employee a copy within 30 days. The policy must state whether the employer monitors, how and in what circumstances, what the information will be used for, and the dates it was prepared and last changed. The Act does not limit monitoring: it mandates disclosure of it.
- Count on 1 January, publish by 1 MarchThe 25-employee threshold is assessed on 1 January each year, and the policy must exist by 1 March.
- Prescribed policy contentWhether monitoring happens, how and when, what the information is used for, and the preparation and amendment dates.
- Distribute within 30 daysEvery employee gets a copy, and new hires get one within 30 days of starting.
- Proof Ledger
- Outcomes
- Certificates
- Audit log
- Data access
- Disputes
- Data egress
- Export
- What We See
- Controls
- AKAria K. viewed screenshotsLena M. · 3 capturesScreen capturemacOS · London09:42a91f…4c023d7b…91ee
- JMJon M. exported time reportDesign team · CSVmacOS · Berlin09:313d7b…91ee77c5…0ba4
- SDSara D. opened capture reviewRavi P. · one flagged frameWindows · Manchester09:1877c5…0ba4e208…5f13
- wm_live_7f2… read /v1/deliverablesScoped key · read onlyPublic API · allowlisted IP08:57e208…5f13b64a…2d90
- LMLena M. viewed her own recordWhat We SeemacOS · London08:44b64a…2d901cf9…8e77
- AKAria K. changed capture policyBlur set to alwaysmacOS · London08:261cf9…8e7705d2…ae31
The instruments, and which control answers each duty
- Employment Standards Act, 2000: Part XI.1: ESA Part XI.1 (added by Bill 88, Working for Workers Act, 2022). Written electronic monitoring policy required at 25+ employees, with content, timing and distribution prescribed.
- Provincial privacy law: Ontario has no private-sector employee privacy statute. The common-law tort of intrusion upon seclusion applies instead, alongside PIPEDA for commercial activity.
No product does this part
What you must still do yourself
Compliance is a property of your deployment. These are the steps in Ontario that no vendor can complete on your behalf, and skipping them is what turns a rollout into a finding.
- 1Write the policy. The ESA prescribes the content but the text is yours.
- 2Diarise the 1 January headcount and the 1 March deadline; this repeats every year.
- 3Distribute to all employees and to each new hire within 30 days.
- If you get it wrongEmployment Standards Officers can order compliance; contraventions attract ESA penalties and can be posted publicly. Failure to provide a copy is separately enforceable.
Verify the claim
Every control above, on the page that describes it
Sources and review date
Last reviewed August 22, 2026This is a summary of how employee-monitoring rules generally work in this jurisdiction, written to help you scope a rollout and brief your own advisers. It is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for it, and law changes. Verify against the primary sources listed and take local counsel before you deploy.
Nearby jurisdictions
Monitoring law elsewhere in North America
- QuebecLaw 25 adds privacy by default, impact assessments and a right to explanation.
- United States (federal)Federal law is permissive; the real constraints are state law and the NLRA.
- New YorkWritten notice on hire, signed acknowledgement, and a posted notice, all three.
- CaliforniaEmployees have full CCPA rights since 2023, including deletion and correction.
- IllinoisBIPA carries a private right of action. This is the state where monitoring gets sued.
- Canada (federal)Reasonableness is the statutory test, and the OPC applies a four-part necessity analysis.
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