Ontario’s 2026 Job Posting Rules

Ontario hiring teams have enough on their plate already.

Now the job ad itself needs a compliance check.

As of January 1, 2026, Ontario has new rules under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 for certain publicly advertised job postings. The changes cover things like expected compensation, AI disclosure, Canadian experience requirements, vacancy status, interview follow-up, and record-keeping. This is not a small wording update. It is a hiring-process update. 

And timing matters. Ontario’s unemployment rate was 7.6% in March 2026, which means employers are hiring in a market where competition is real, attention is short, and a sloppy posting can create both compliance risk and candidate confusion. 

So let’s make this simpler.

1. First, know whether the rules apply to you

These rules do not apply to every employer or every posting.

Ontario’s regulation says the publicly advertised job posting requirements do not apply to employers with fewer than 25 employees on the day the posting goes live. The regulation also creates exemptions for certain postings, including positions with expected compensation of more than $200,000 annually. That means some employers will be fully inside these rules, some will be partially affected, and some will be outside them altogether. 

That is the first point to get clear internally.

Before you rewrite every job ad on your site, figure out which parts of your hiring activity are actually covered.

2. Compensation disclosure is now part of the posting

This is probably the change most employers will notice first.

Ontario’s ESA now requires covered employers to include information about the expected compensation for a publicly advertised role. If a range is used, the range cannot exceed an amount equivalent to $50,000 annually. Ontario’s guide even gives a simple example: a range from $85,000 to $135,000 would be too wide. 

That means “competitive salary” on its own is not going to carry much weight in a covered posting.

It also means employers need to get more disciplined about how compensation is approved before a role is published. If the salary range is still floating around between finance, HR, and the hiring manager, the posting is probably not ready.

That is not just a compliance issue. It is a process issue.

3. If AI is involved, the posting has to say so

Ontario also now requires covered employers to disclose in a publicly advertised posting if they use artificial intelligence to screen, assess, or select applicants. The government flagged this change in its January 2026 backgrounder, and the ESA wording is clear on the core point: if AI is part of the screening process, the posting needs to disclose that. 

This matters for two reasons.

The legal reason is obvious.

The hiring reason is just as important. Employers are going to need cleaner internal alignment on where AI is actually being used. Is it ranking candidates? Filtering résumés? Supporting assessment decisions? If no one internally can answer that confidently, the job ad is not the only thing that needs tightening.

4. Employers also have to say whether there is a real vacancy

This is one of those changes that sounds small until you think about what it is trying to prevent.

Ontario now requires covered employers to disclose whether a publicly advertised posting is for an existing vacancy or not. The province highlighted this as part of the January 2026 rules package, and the ESA guide includes it in the new posting requirements. 

That is probably a good thing.

Candidates have been dealing with ghost jobs, evergreen postings, and “we are always hiring” language for a while now. This rule pushes postings closer to what they should have been in the first place: clearer about what is actually open.

5. Canadian experience requirements are out

This is another important one.

Ontario’s ESA now says employers cannot include requirements related to Canadian experience in a publicly advertised job posting or in an associated application form. The province announced this change as part of its Working for Workers agenda, specifically framing it as a way to help more qualified candidates move forward in hiring. 

That does not mean employers have to ignore genuine role requirements.

It does mean they need to be more precise. If the role requires knowledge of Ontario regulations, experience with a local system, or familiarity with a particular client environment, say that. Those are job-related details. “Canadian experience required” as a blanket shortcut is exactly the kind of wording this rule is trying to push out.

6. Interviewed applicants now need to be told whether a decision has been made

This is the part many teams will feel most operationally.

Ontario’s guide says employers must provide information to interviewed applicants about whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days after the interview. If interviews are spaced more than 45 days apart, the employer must provide that information within 45 days after each interview.

That does not sound dramatic.

It is still a big change for employers who have relied on silence, loose follow-up, or “we will circle back when we know more” as an unofficial process.

Because now the loose process has a clock on it.

And if your team does not have a clean way to track who was interviewed, when they were interviewed, and when they were informed, this is where friction shows up fast.

7. Record-keeping is part of the job now too

Ontario is not just asking employers to follow the rules. It is also asking them to keep records around them.

The ESA record-keeping requirements say employers must retain copies of every publicly advertised job posting and any associated application form. Ontario’s legislation also requires employers to retain copies of the information provided to interviewed applicants under the new decision-notification rule for three years. 

This is the part that turns a policy update into an actual workflow update.

If postings live across multiple systems, recruiters are improvising interview communication, and no one owns the documentation trail, compliance gets messy very quickly.