TLDR — Key Takeaways
- Ontario employers with 25 or more employees must have a written disconnecting from work policy under Part VII.0.1 of the ESA, in place by March 1 of each calendar year.
- The policy does NOT create a right for employees to disconnect — it requires the employer to document and communicate its organizational approach to after-hours work communications.
- The ESA requires the policy to include a preparation date and amendment date. The actual content is at the employer’s discretion — but it must exist and be written down.
- Distribute to all employees within 30 days of the policy being in place; to new hires within 30 days of their start date.
- Many employers mistakenly believe that having a “flexible” or “always-on” workplace means they don’t need this policy. They do — the policy just needs to accurately reflect their approach.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Disconnecting from Work Policy in Ontario?
- The Legal Basis: Part VII.0.1 of the ESA
- Who Must Comply?
- What Must the Policy Include?
- What the Policy Does NOT Create: The “Right to Disconnect” Misconception
- Distribution Requirements
- How to Write Your Disconnecting from Work Policy
- Disconnecting from Work vs. Electronic Monitoring: Two Separate Obligations
- The Bigger Picture: Disconnecting, Mental Health, and OHSA
- Common Mistakes Ontario Employers Make
- FAQ
What Is a Disconnecting from Work Policy in Ontario?
A disconnecting from work policy is a written document that describes the employer’s organizational approach to employees disconnecting from work outside their regular hours — including after-hours emails, phone calls, texts, video meetings, and other work-related communications. In Ontario, this policy is a legal requirement for employers with 25 or more employees.
The obligation was introduced by the Working for Workers Act, 2021, which added Part VII.0.1 to the Employment Standards Act, 2000. Ontario was the first Canadian province to legislate this type of requirement.
The Legal Basis: Part VII.0.1 of the ESA
Sections 21.1.1 to 21.1.3 of the ESA establish the disconnecting from work policy obligation. The Ministry of Labour’s Guide to the ESA provides interpretive guidance.
Key points from the legislation:
- The obligation applies to employers with 25+ employees on January 1 of any year
- The policy must be in place by March 1 of that year
- The policy must be in writing and distributed to employees
- The employer determines the content of the policy
- The ESA enforcement provisions apply to the obligation to have and distribute the policy — not to whether the employer lives by it
Who Must Comply?
| Employer Size (January 1) | Obligation | Annual Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 employees | No legal obligation (though a policy is strong HR practice) | N/A |
| 25 or more employees | Must have a written disconnecting from work policy | March 1 of each year the threshold is met |
| Employer that crosses 25 employees during the year | Obligation begins January 1 of the following year | March 1 of the following year |
Employee count: Count all individuals employed in Ontario on January 1 — full-time, part-time, casual, fixed-term, and employees on leave. Independent contractors do not count. Each individual counts as one, regardless of hours worked.
The policy applies to all employees in Ontario, including executives, managers, and shareholders who are employees under the ESA. There is no carve-out for seniority or role type.
What Must the Policy Include?
The ESA specifies only two mandatory elements:
- The date the policy was prepared
- The date any changes were made to the policy
Everything else — the actual substance of the organization’s approach to disconnecting from work — is left to the employer’s discretion. This is a significant difference from the Electronic Monitoring Policy, which has prescribed content requirements. There is no minimum standard for what the policy must say about the right (or absence of right) to disconnect.
In practice, a useful policy addresses:
| Topic | What to Cover | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| What “disconnecting from work” means at your organization | Define which communications this policy covers (email, text, phone, messaging apps, etc.) | “This policy covers all work-related electronic communications including email, Microsoft Teams, phone calls, and text messages.” |
| Expectations after regular hours | State what the employer’s expectations are for responding to communications outside core hours | “Employees are not expected to respond to emails or messages received after 6:00 p.m. or before 8:00 a.m. unless they are on a designated on-call schedule.” |
| Roles or circumstances with different expectations | Acknowledge that some roles may have different requirements (e.g., management, on-call staff, client-facing roles) | “Employees in certain roles designated as on-call may have different response time requirements as outlined in their employment agreements.” |
| Sending emails or messages after hours | Some employers choose to state that employees can send communications after hours but that recipients are not expected to respond | “Employees may send communications at any time. Recipients are not expected to respond until their next working day unless the matter is urgent and pre-arranged.” |
| Vacations and leaves | Address expectations during vacation, sick leave, and other absences | “Employees on approved vacation or leave are not expected to respond to any work communications during their absence.” |
What the Policy Does NOT Create: The Misconception
This is the most important thing to understand about Ontario’s disconnecting from work requirement: it does not create a legal right for employees to be free from after-hours contact or communication.
The ESA is explicit on this point. The Ministry of Labour has confirmed that the law requires employers to put a policy in place and communicate it — not to adopt any particular approach or guarantee any particular level of after-hours availability. An employer whose policy says “employees in this organization are expected to be available by phone between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. during the work week” is technically compliant with the ESA, as long as the policy is in writing and was distributed within the required timeframes.
What the policy does accomplish:
- Requires employers to think about and document their approach to after-hours work
- Ensures employees know what is expected of them
- Creates a baseline for managing expectations on both sides
- Supports psychologically healthy workplaces when the policy genuinely encourages disconnection
The right to disconnect as a substantive legal protection exists in some jurisdictions (France, Belgium, and increasingly in federally regulated Canadian sectors), but it is not yet part of Ontario employment law.
Distribution Requirements
| Situation | Distribution Deadline |
|---|---|
| New policy created or annual update | Within 30 days of the policy being put in place (i.e., by March 31 if the policy was in place March 1) |
| Policy is changed or updated | Within 30 days of the changes being made |
| New employee hired | Within 30 days of their start date |
Distribution must be in writing. Options include email with acknowledgment, posting on the company intranet with a confirmation mechanism, or providing a printed copy with a signed receipt form. Keep records of distribution — the Ministry of Labour can request evidence that the policy was distributed within the required timeframe.
How to Write Your Disconnecting from Work Policy
Here is a framework for drafting a compliant, practical policy:
Option A: Genuine Disconnecting Policy (Recommended Best Practice)
If your workplace genuinely supports work-life balance, a clear statement that employees are not expected to monitor or respond to communications outside their core working hours — with defined exceptions for genuinely urgent matters or designated on-call roles — is both compliant and meaningful.
Option B: Expectations-Disclosure Policy (Compliant but Minimal)
If your organization operates in an environment where after-hours availability is genuinely expected for some or all roles, a compliant policy can describe those expectations honestly. This is better than having no policy — it sets clear expectations and prevents misunderstandings. However, from an HR and retention perspective, consider whether your after-hours expectations are reasonable and whether they contribute to turnover or burnout.
Option C: Role-Based Policy
Many organizations have different expectations for different roles. A policy can acknowledge this by establishing general expectations and then noting that certain roles (management, client service, on-call) have specific requirements documented in employment agreements or supplementary job-specific guidelines.
Disconnecting from Work vs. Electronic Monitoring: Two Separate Obligations
These policies are often confused or conflated. They are two distinct ESA requirements with different content, purposes, and origins.
| Dimension | Disconnecting from Work Policy | Electronic Monitoring Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Legal source | Part VII.0.1 of the ESA (Working for Workers Act, 2021) | Part XI.1 of the ESA (Working for Workers Act, 2022) |
| Purpose | Documents the employer’s approach to after-hours communications and work expectations | Discloses whether and how the employer electronically monitors employees |
| Content requirements | Preparation date and amendment date; employer determines substance | Must describe how monitoring occurs, circumstances, and purposes if monitoring takes place |
| Threshold | 25+ employees on January 1 | 25+ employees on January 1 |
| Deadline | March 1 of the applicable year | March 1 of the applicable year |
| Distribution deadline | Within 30 days of policy being in place or change | Within 30 days of policy being in place or change |
| What it does NOT do | Does not create a legal right to disconnect | Does not restrict what monitoring the employer can conduct |
Both policies can be combined in a single employee handbook section or employer policy document, as long as each is clearly labeled and contains the required content.
The Bigger Picture: Disconnecting, Mental Health, and OHSA
While the disconnecting from work policy obligation is a relatively light-touch transparency requirement, the underlying issue — the impact of always-on work culture on employee mental health — is a serious occupational health matter.
Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), employers have a duty to take every reasonable precaution to protect the health and safety of workers. This includes psychosocial health. Research consistently shows that chronic after-hours connectivity contributes to burnout, anxiety, disrupted sleep, and increased risk of stress-related disability claims.
A disconnecting from work policy that genuinely reflects a healthy organizational approach — rather than one drafted merely to check the ESA box — can meaningfully reduce:
- Short-term disability claims related to burnout and mental health
- Voluntary turnover driven by work-life balance dissatisfaction
- Human Rights Code claims related to accommodation of mental health conditions
See our guides on Workplace Mental Health Ontario and Employee Wellness Programs for a fuller picture of how policy and practice connect.
Common Disconnecting from Work Policy Mistakes
| Mistake | Problem | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| No policy at all (most common) | ESA violation for 25+ employee employers; Ministry can audit and order compliance | Create a written policy and distribute it by March 1 each year the threshold is met |
| Policy exists but employees were never told about it | Distribution is a separate requirement — having the policy is not enough | Track distribution; use your HRIS or an email acknowledgment workflow |
| Policy doesn’t include the date it was prepared | Non-compliant — the date is a specific ESA requirement | Include both preparation date and date of any amendments in the policy document header |
| Not updating the policy when your approach changes | If the organization’s actual after-hours expectations shift, the policy must reflect that — and be redistributed within 30 days | Review the policy annually alongside the Electronic Monitoring Policy |
| Combining with the Electronic Monitoring Policy and losing track of requirements | Both have different required content — combining them can lead to one set of requirements being missed | Keep them together in a handbook but as clearly labeled, separate sections |
| New employees not receiving the policy within 30 days | ESA violation — onboarding process must include policy distribution | Add to the new hire onboarding checklist with an acknowledgment step |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who must have a disconnecting from work policy in Ontario?
Employers with 25 or more employees on January 1 of any year must have the policy in place by March 1 of that year.
What must the policy say?
It must include the date it was prepared and the date of any changes. The actual content of the policy — what approach the employer takes to after-hours disconnecting — is at the employer’s discretion.
Does this create a right to disconnect?
No. The ESA does not create a legal right for employees to disconnect. It requires the employer to document and communicate its approach to after-hours communications, whatever that approach is.
When must employees receive the policy?
Within 30 days of the policy being in place or updated. New employees within 30 days of their start date.
Is this the same as the Electronic Monitoring Policy?
No — they are two separate ESA requirements. The Disconnecting from Work Policy covers after-hours communication expectations. The Electronic Monitoring Policy covers whether and how the employer monitors employees electronically. Both apply to 25+ employee employers and must be in place by March 1 each year.
Need help creating compliant HR policies for your Ontario workplace? HRX Connect works with employers across Ontario to develop policies that satisfy ESA requirements and reflect your actual workplace culture. Talk to our team.
Related resources: HR Consulting | Electronic Monitoring Policy Ontario | Managing Remote Employees Ontario | Workplace Mental Health Ontario