By OptiVal Editorial Desk
If your team works on laptops, phones, and cloud software, you are probably monitoring them electronically in at least one way, even if you never bought a product labelled monitoring. In Ontario, an electronic monitoring policy is not optional for larger employers. If you employ 25 or more employees in Ontario on January 1 of a year, the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) requires a written policy on electronic monitoring in place before March 1 of that year, whether you monitor anyone or not.
This guide covers who counts toward the 25, what the policy has to say, who must get a copy and by when, and what the rule does not do. The full text is in the Ontario government guide, Written policy on electronic monitoring of employees. Treat this as general information, not legal advice.
What an electronic monitoring policy in Ontario has to cover
The requirement was added to the ESA on April 11, 2022, through the Working for Workers Act, 2022. It is a transparency rule. Your policy must state whether or not you electronically monitor employees. If you do, it must also include a description of how and in what circumstances you may monitor, the purposes for which information obtained through monitoring may be used, the date the policy was prepared (day, month, and year), and the date any changes were made.
If you do not monitor, the policy still has to exist, and it must specifically state that. Having no policy at all is not compliance. Once a compliant policy is in place, the ESA does not require a brand new one by March 1 each year: you update and redistribute it when it changes.
What counts as electronic monitoring
The guide defines it broadly: all forms of monitoring done electronically. Examples include GPS tracking of a delivery vehicle, a sensor tracking how quickly staff scan items at a checkout, and tracking websites employees visit during working hours. Email and chat monitoring software counts too.
Two scope rules matter for remote teams. The requirement is not limited to devices the employer issued: if you monitor through an employee’s own computer because it is used for work, the policy has to capture it. Location does not save you either. Monitoring at home, at your workplace, or in a hybrid mix is all in scope. In a typical remote finance setup that means time-tracking software with screenshots, login and access logs in your accounting system, call recordings, and productivity dashboards all belong in the inventory.
Counting to 25: the January 1 test
You count individual employees employed in Ontario on January 1, not full-time equivalents. Part-time and casual employees each count as one, regardless of hours. If you have multiple Ontario locations, you add them all together, and related employers that the ESA treats as one employer are counted together as well.
The count includes homeworkers, probationary employees, some trainees, officers who perform work for wages, term-contract employees of any length, employees on layoff (if the relationship has not been terminated or severed), employees on leave, and employees on strike or locked out. Even employees exempt from all or part of the ESA count toward the 25.
The timing cuts both ways. If you have fewer than 25 on January 1, you do not need a policy for that year, even if you hire past 25 in May. If you have 25 or more on January 1, you need the policy for that year, even if headcount later drops below 25. It is the same January 1 snapshot logic Ontario now uses for several other duties, including the ones we covered in our guide to the Ontario job posting rules.
Who the policy must cover, and who gets a copy
The policy must apply to all of your Ontario employees to whom the provision applies, including management, executives, and shareholders who are employees under the ESA. A policy covering only sales staff does not comply. You may use one policy for everyone, or different content for different groups, as long as every group is covered. It must also apply to assignment employees assigned to work for you.
Give every employee a copy within 30 calendar days of the day the policy is required to be in place, and within 30 calendar days after any change. New employees get a copy within 30 calendar days of the later of that required date and their first day. Assignment employees get it by the later of within 24 hours of starting the assignment and within 30 calendar days of the required date.
You can hand over a printed copy, send it as an email attachment if the employee can print it, or link to it online if the employee has reasonable access and a printer. Keep every version for three years after it is no longer in effect.
What this rule does not do
Be clear-eyed about the limits, because staff often assume the opposite. The ESA does not establish a right not to be electronically monitored, and it does not create new privacy rights. The duty is to be transparent, not to stop monitoring.
The enforcement limit is just as narrow. A ministry complaint or investigation can only deal with an alleged failure to provide a copy on time. The ESA also does not limit your use of monitoring information to the purposes stated in the policy: the province’s own example notes that internet monitoring done to assess productivity that turns up inappropriate sites can be used for other reasons, including discipline.
None of that makes a sloppy policy safe. The guide warns that a policy may create entitlements an employee could enforce outside the ESA, and it suggests legal advice on that point. Write what you actually do, no more and no less.
A short build list for remote employers
Start with an inventory, not a template. List every system that logs, tracks, records, or reports on employee activity, including the quiet ones inside accounting, payroll, and messaging software. For each one, write one plain sentence on how it monitors, one on the circumstances, and one on the purposes the information may be used for. Date the document in full, confirm coverage for managers and assignment employees, then diarise the distribution work and the three-year retention file. If you sit near 25 staff, count early: the March 1 deadline leaves little room to build the inventory from scratch.
Monitoring paperwork is one of the unglamorous systems that makes a remote team work. Our services page and pricing page show how structured remote support is priced, including payroll support at $29 per employee per month plus a $149 setup (CAD, HST extra). OptiVal is led by qualified professionals with more than 75 years of combined experience, PwC-trained, who have worked at world-leading multinationals in CFO-level positions, and our remote HR and staffing support includes the policy templates and onboarding checklists that keep this kind of compliance from slipping.
Not sure whether your January 1 count puts you over 25, or whether your current tools belong in a policy? Book a free consultation and we will work through your list with you.
