Ontario’s Bill 79, Working for Workers Act, 2023 (“Bill 79”), amended several statutes, including the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). One of the amendments Bill 79 made to the ESA authorized the government to make regulations prescribing information that must be provided to “employees and prospective employees” regarding rates of pay, work location and hours of work. On November 29, 2024, Ontario published Regulation 477/24 – When Work Deemed to be Performed, Exemptions and Special Rules (the “Regulation”), which comes into force on July 1, 2025.
The Regulation lists information an employer with 25 or more employees1 (including the newly hired employee) on the employee’s first day of work must provide to an employee in writing before the employee’s first day of work or, if it is not practicable to do so, as soon after that day as is reasonably possible. The information that must be provided includes:
- The legal name of the employer, and any operating or business name of the employer if it is different from the legal name;
- Contact information for the employer, including its address, telephone number and one or more contact names;
- A general description of where it is anticipated 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 (Section 11(1) of the ESA requires an employer to establish a recurring pay period and a recurring pay day, and to pay all wages earned during each pay period, other than accruing vacation pay, no later than the pay day for that period); and
- A general description of the employee’s initial anticipated hours of work.
The Regulation provides that this requirement does not apply with respect to an employee who is an assignment employee.
Bottom Line for Employers
The above requirement to provide information to covered employers will be in force in a little over six months on July 1, 2025. Employers are encouraged to review and amend their workplace policies and procedures pertaining to the information they provide to employees in writing before their first day of work in accordance with these upcoming obligations.
Footnotes
1 Subject to certain exceptions set out at ss. 3(2) to (5), the ESA sets out employment standards that apply with respect to an employee and their employer if the employee’s work is to be performed (a) in Ontario, or (b) in Ontario and outside Ontario but the work performed outside Ontario is a continuation of work performed in Ontario.
