Starting in January 2026, employers in Ontario must ensure transparent and equitable hiring processes under reforms to the Employment Standards Act (ESA) and the Workers' Right to Work Act.
In this blog, I share the new changes to theWorking for Workers Act. If you are a professional looking to work in Ontario, read on to the end and learn about these legal updates to ensure greater job success in 2026.
A Canadian employer cannot require local (Canadian) experience in order to hire you. The Working for Workers Act seeks to ensure that the skills and education of those who have worked internationally are valued fairly. Doing so would be a violation of the Act.
Under the new Employment Standards Act (ESA), employers in Ontario have a legal obligation to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in the hiring process. This requirement ensures that any candidate knows whether their profile is being evaluated, filtered, or scored by algorithms or automated systems, guaranteeing that they can make "more informed decisions about their professional careers" and maintaining transparency in the search for talent.
Any employer with 25 or more employees is legally required to include the expected compensation in all publicly advertised job offers.
This rule prohibits the use of excessively broad ranges that confuse the candidate, establishing that the difference between the minimum and maximum salary in the advertisement cannot exceed CAD 50,000.
Note: This applies to any public medium, whether job portals, social media, or corporate websites. However, the legal framework establishes an exception for senior management positions: if the expected remuneration (or the upper limit of the range) exceeds $200,000 per year, the employer is not required to publish this information.
According to the 2026 legal framework, employers are required to respond to interviewees within 45 days of the interview. This measure ensures that candidates receive official notification of the status of their application, whether they have been selected or not, eliminating uncertainty after the final contact.
In addition, as a complementary transparency measure, the law now requires employers to disclose in their postings whether there is a real "current vacancy. " This seeks to eliminate "ghost postings" that companies sometimes keep active without any intention of hiring.
In addition to these protections, the principle of As of Right. This framework allows professionals already certified in other Canadian provinces to obtain their registration in Ontario in just 10 business days (or 2 days for doctors and nurses), facilitating immediate job mobility.
Do you need advice to understand Ontario labor laws? At Immiland Canada, we can help you.
At Immiland Canada, we have a team of CICC consultants and Canadian lawyers ready to guide you through the immigration process.
If you need advice on obtaining your initial certification in the most efficient province, we will then use As of Right to bring you to Ontario in accordance with the requirements of current law. Click here to schedule an appointment.
Visit our website: https://www.immilandcanada.com/servicios and learn about all the services available to immigrants.
Thank you for reading. We look forward to seeing you on our next blog.
With love,
Immiland
.jpg)
