Ontario to require large employers to have electronic monitoring policy

On the heels of the Government of Ontario passing Bill 27, which severely limits the use of non-competition agreements and imposes the obligation for employers to create a right to disconnect policy, the Government of Ontario is planning to make further amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

On 24 February 2022, the Government of Ontario announced that it intends to introduce new legislation that will require employers in Ontario with 25 or more workers to have a written electronic monitoring policy in place for all their employees. This proposed policy would be required to include information on whether the employer electronically monitors its workers, and if so, a description of how and in what circumstances the employer conducts said monitoring. In addition, in the proposed policy, employers would need to disclose the purpose of collecting information through electronic monitoring and how the information collected will be used by the employer.

At this time, the Government of Ontario has not published the new legislation but has stated that the new legislation will be introduced later this month.

We will provide further updates as more details regarding this new legislation and the proposed electronic monitoring policy are announced. In the interim, if you have any questions about electronic monitoring in the workplace or other privacy related inquiries, do not hesitate to contact any lawyer in our Canadian Employment and Labour Law Group.