Five posting rules, one coverage test
The 2026 changes sit inside the Employment Standards Act, 2000, brought in by the Working for Workers Four Act, 2024 and its regulation. They are not one rule but five, and they all hang on a single coverage test: an employer with 25 or more employees, posting a publicly advertised job. Read the five duties as the map of the work, then hold them against your own postings.
The pay rule is the headline, but all five bind together once the coverage test is met. The next sections take the two that carry the most operational weight, the pay range and the follow-up duty, and then where employers misread the line.
The 25-employee line and what a public posting is
Two definitions decide whether any of this applies to a given posting. The first is size: the rules reach employers with 25 or more employees. A business that hovers near that line should assume coverage, because what matters is the headcount on the day a specific posting goes live, not an annual average. The second is the kind of posting. The duties attach to publicly advertised job postings, the external ads visible to the general public. Internal-only postings and direct, individual recruiting outreach sit outside the rule. Once a posting is public and the employer is at or above 25 employees, all five duties apply to it at once.
The $50,000 range cap and the $200,000 exemption
The pay rule is specific in a way that trips up old templates. A posting can carry a single figure or a range, but a range cannot span more than $50,000 from bottom to top. So $70,000 to $115,000 is fine; $70,000 to $130,000 is not. The widely used tactic of posting a very broad band to preserve negotiating room is no longer available for covered postings. The one carve-out is at the top end: where the expected compensation, or the top of the range, is above $200,000 a year, the pay-disclosure duty does not apply. That exemption mostly catches senior and specialized roles, but the other four duties on the same posting still stand. And the figure has to be genuine. The range must reflect the compensation the employer actually expects to pay, not an aspirational or misleading number, and nothing in the law obliges the employer to hire within the posted band.
The 45-day reply and the three-year record
Two duties run after the posting itself. The follow-up rule says an employer must tell each applicant it interviewed whether a hiring decision has been made, within 45 days of that applicant’s last interview. It is scoped to interviewed applicants, not every person who applied, and it does not force a particular outcome, only a reply. The record-keeping rule says the employer keeps a copy of each publicly advertised posting and any associated application form for three years after the posting comes down. Together they turn the posting process into something an employer has to be able to show, after the fact, which is why a simple log of what was posted, when it came down, and who was told what becomes part of the workflow rather than an afterthought.
Four ways employers read this wrong
- Posting a band wider than $50,000.The single most common miss. A $60,000 to $120,000 range looks reasonable but breaks the cap. The spread between the low and high end has to be $50,000 or less unless the role is above the $200,000 line.
- Treating it as pay-only.The pay range is the headline, but four other duties ride on the same posting: AI disclosure, vacancy status, no Canadian-experience requirement, and the 45-day applicant reply with three-year record-keeping. A posting that gets the pay right and ignores the rest is still non-compliant.
- Assuming small means exempt.Coverage is 25 or more employees, tested on the day the posting goes live. A business that sits near that line through seasonal or fluctuating headcount can be covered for a posting it thought was outside the rule. The safe default is a compliant template once you regularly operate at or near 25.
- Forgetting the 45-day clock and the records.The follow-up duty is easy to overlook because it lands after the hire is decided. Every interviewed applicant gets told whether a decision was made within 45 days of their last interview, and the posting and application form are kept for three years after the posting comes down.
A non-compliant posting can draw a complaint, an inspection, and penalties, so a posting decision here carries real legal weight. This note describes Ontario’s job posting rules under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 as amended by the Working for Workers Four Act, 2024, in effect from 1 January 2026, for planning. It is a summary, not legal advice, and it does not capture every exception or definition. Coverage, the meaning of compensation, and how the rules apply to a specific posting can turn on detail. Before you publish a posting, change your templates, or respond to a complaint, confirm the current requirements with qualified Ontario employment counsel.
Where these figures come from
Primary sources
- Employment Standards Act, 2000, as amended by the Working for Workers Four Act, 2024 (Bill 149). The governing statute. Bill 149 and its regulation add the publicly advertised job posting rules to the ESA: expected compensation or a range, the AI-use disclosure, the vacancy-status statement, the bar on requiring Canadian experience, the 45-day applicant follow-up, and the three-year record-keeping duty. In force 1 January 2026. ontario.ca, Employment Standards Act, 2000Checked 20 June 2026
- Littler, Canada: New Ontario Job Posting Requirements in Force January 1, 2026. Employer-counsel analysis confirming the 25-employee coverage test, the $50,000 range cap, and the $200,000 exemption where the pay or top of the range exceeds that figure, along with the AI, vacancy, and record-keeping obligations. littler.com, Ontario job posting requirementsChecked 20 June 2026
- HRPA, Ontario pay transparency and AI disclosure: what HR teams must know in 2026. The professional body for Ontario HR, confirming the 1 January 2026 effective date, the over-25-employee scope, the within-$50,000 range, the $200,000 exclusion, the existing-vacancy statement, the 45-day applicant-notice rule, and the three-year retention duty. hrpa.ca, Ontario pay transparency 2026Checked 20 June 2026
- Stikeman Elliott and Robert Half, Ontario job posting guidance, 2026. Used to confirm that compensation tracks the ESA meaning of wages (base salary and guaranteed bonuses in, discretionary bonuses, tips, and benefits out), that the rules attach to publicly advertised postings, and that nothing requires the employer to hire within the posted range. roberthalf.com, Pay Transparency Act tips for employersChecked 20 June 2026
These rules took effect on 1 January 2026 and are settled law, but enforcement guidance and the fine detail of how they apply to specific postings continue to develop. Treat this note as a way to organize and document compliant postings and prepare for legal review. Confirm the current requirements before you publish, and do not read this as a statement that a given posting is compliant.
Tools that build a compliant posting
Write the posting once, the right way
Common questions
Only if it has 25 or more employees. The job posting rules apply to employers at or above that size, tested on the day the posting goes live. A business that fluctuates around 25 employees should assume coverage and use a compliant template by default, because the risk is being covered on the specific day a posting is published.
The spread between the low and high end cannot exceed $50,000. A posting can use a single figure instead. The pay-disclosure duty does not apply where the expected pay, or the top of the range, is above $200,000 a year, though the other posting rules still apply to that role.
No. The 45-day follow-up duty is scoped to applicants the employer interviewed. Each interviewed applicant has to be told whether a hiring decision was made, within 45 days of their last interview. It does not require a particular outcome, only that they are informed.
Compensation tracks the meaning of wages under the ESA: base salary and guaranteed bonuses are in. Discretionary bonuses that are not guaranteed, tips, and benefits are not part of the figure you must post. The number has to reflect what the employer genuinely expects to pay, not an aspirational range, and nothing requires the employer to hire within it.
Yes, if artificial intelligence is used to screen, assess, or select applicants, the posting must disclose that. The law does not require any detail about the system or how it is used, only the statement that AI is in use. It does not limit or prohibit the use of AI in hiring.