Ontario: New pay transparency and job posting requirements will take effect in January 2026

At a glance

• On 2 December 2024, Ontario announced the effective dates, and supporting regulations, for the new pay transparency and job posting requirements introduced by Bill 149 and Bill 190 earlier this year.
• Effective 1 January 2026, employers with 25 or more employees will have to follow a number of requirements with respect to all publicly advertised job postings.
• The requirements include providing information about the expected compensation for the position, or the range of expected compensation for the position; disclosing whether artificial intelligence is being used to screen, assess or select applicants for a position; and including a statement about whether the posting is for an existing vacancy.
• Also effective  January 2026, employers are prohibited from including any requirements related to Canadian work ‎experience in publicly advertised job postings; and must inform interviewees whether a hiring a decision has been made within 45 days after the date of the interviewee's last interview.

Effective 1 January 2026, all publicly advertised job postings by employers with 25 or more employees must include the following:

• Information about the expected compensation for the position, or a range of expected compensation, where the expected compensation, or the top end of the range of compensation, is CAD200,000 per annum or less. 'Compensation' is given the same definition as 'wages' within the meaning of the Employment Standards Act 2000. Any compensation range posted must not exceed CAD50,000.
• Information about whether artificial intelligence is being used to screen, assess or select applicants for a position. 'Artificial intelligence' is defined as a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, makes inferences from the input it receives in order to generate outputs such as predictions; content; recommendations; or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.
• A statement about whether the posting is for an existing vacancy.

Also in effect on 1 January 2026 will be:

• A prohibition on including any requirements related to Canadian work ‎experience on publicly advertised job postings or any associated application form.
• A requirement that employers inform interviewees whether a hiring a decision has been made within 45 days after the date of the interview or, if the employer interviews the applicant more than once, within 45 days after the date of the last interview. The information may be provided in-person, in writing, or using technology.

The new regulations also clarify the type of job posting that will be captured by these new rules. A 'publicly advertised job posting' is defined as an 'external job posting that an employer or person acting on behalf of an employer advertises to the general public in any manner'. Not all job postings are captured by the definition, as it explicitly excludes:

• A general recruitment campaign that does not advertise a specific position.
• A general 'help wanted' sign that does not advertise a specific position.
• A posting for a position that is restricted to existing employees of the employer.
• A posting for a position for which work is to be:
  • performed outside Ontario; or
  • performed both outside Ontario and in Ontario, and the work performed outside Ontario is not a continuation of work performed in Ontario. 

These regulations, and the coming into force date, are expected to be confirmed by publication in the Ontario Gazette on 14 December 2024.