By OptiVal Editorial Desk
Remote work blurs the line between on the clock and off it, and Ontario law has something specific to say about that line. If you employ 25 or more employees in Ontario on January 1 of a year, the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) requires a written disconnecting from work policy in Ontario in place before March 1 of that year. The next count date is January 1, 2027, so now is the time to count calmly.
This guide covers who counts toward the 25, what the policy has to include, who must get a copy and by when. The full rules are in the Ontario government guide, Written policy on disconnecting from work. Treat this as general information, not legal advice.
What a disconnecting from work policy in Ontario has to cover
The requirement was added to the ESA on December 2, 2021, through the Working for Workers Act, 2021. Disconnecting from work is defined in the ESA as not engaging in work related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls, or sending or reviewing other messages, so as to be free from the performance of work. That list is not exhaustive, so chat and app notifications count too.
The legal requirements for the document itself are short. Your policy must be about disconnecting from work as defined above. It must include the date it was prepared and the date any changes were made, with the day, month, and year. Beyond that, the ESA does not dictate content or length. You decide what your policy says. It can be a stand alone document, or part of a broader human resources manual.
Once a policy is in place, there is no requirement to write a new one by March 1 each year. Keep it current, update it when your practices change, and retain every version for three years after it is no longer in effect.
The biggest misunderstanding: this is not a ban on after hours contact
Many employees assume the law gives them a right to ignore every message after 5 p.m. It does not. The ESA does not require your policy to create a new right to disconnect. The duty is to have your expectations in writing, not to adopt any particular expectation.
Your staff do have real rights not to perform work, but those come from other ESA rules: hours of work and eating periods, vacation with pay, public holidays, and Ontario Regulation 285/01, which sets out when work is deemed to be performed. If someone answers messages for an hour at night, that time can count toward hours and overtime pay in Ontario under those rules, whether your policy mentions it or not.
One caution cuts the other way. If your policy promises a greater right or benefit than the ESA minimum, that promise may be enforceable under the ESA. If it does not, the policy itself is not enforceable under the ESA. The guide suggests legal advice before you promise more than the minimum. Write what you actually practise.
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. Add all of your Ontario locations together. Related employers 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 or task contract employees of any length, employees on layoff while 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. Assignment employees of a temporary help agency count for the agency, not the client.
The timing is a snapshot, and it cuts both ways. If you have 20 on January 1 and hire six more in May, you do not need a policy for that year. If those 26 are still employed on the next January 1, you do. If you have 25 or more on January 1 and headcount later falls to 18, you still need the policy for that year. The rule applies to ESA covered employers and employees, except the Crown and certain Crown bodies. It uses the same January 1 logic as the electronic monitoring policy rule.
Who the policy must cover, and who gets a copy
The policy must apply to all of your employees in Ontario, including management, executives, and shareholders who are employees under the ESA. A policy that covers only your support team does not comply. Content can differ by group, for example office staff versus client facing staff, as long as every group is covered.
Give every employee a copy within 30 calendar days of the policy being prepared, and within 30 calendar days of any change. New employees must get a copy within 30 calendar days of being hired. 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 to the document and a printer.
What a useful policy actually says
Because the ESA leaves the content to you, a good policy answers the questions your team actually asks. The Ontario guide examples are a practical starting point:
- Your expectations, if any, for reading or replying to work emails or answering work calls after a shift ends.
- Different expectations for different situations, based on the time of day, the subject matter, or who is contacting the employee.
- Requirements for out of office notifications and voicemail messages when someone is not scheduled to work, so senders know a reply will wait until the next work day.
For a remote team across time zones, add specifics that prevent friction: which channel counts as urgent, what response window applies in each time zone, how handovers work so nobody stays online waiting, and who is on call for emergencies. Vague policies create the after hours creep they are meant to manage.
A short build list before January 1
Count early, in December. Draft from your real communication habits, not a generic template. Date the document in full, confirm it covers managers and executives, calendar the 30 day distribution work, and file the retention copy with your other ESA policies. If you sit near 25 staff, treat this as a January task: March 1 arrives fast.
Disconnecting paperwork is one of the quiet systems that makes a remote team sustainable. Our services page and pricing page show how structured remote support is priced, including payroll 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. Our remote HR and staffing support includes the policy templates and onboarding checklists that keep this compliance from slipping.
Not sure whether your January 1 count puts you over 25, or what your policy should say about after hours messages? Book a free consultation and we will work through it with you.
