Ontario employers with 25 or more employees on January 1 must have a written policy on electronic monitoring of employees in place before March 1 of that year. The policy must say whether the employer monitors employees electronically and, if it does, how, in what circumstances and for what purposes. The rule is about transparency. It does not give employees a right not to be monitored.
Key takeaways
- The test is 25 or more employees in Ontario on January 1.
- The policy must be in place before March 1 and shared within 30 calendar days.
- It must describe how, when and why you monitor, and carry its dates.
- The law creates no new privacy rights and does not limit how you use the data.
The rule at a glance
- Who
- Employers with 25 or more employees on January 1
- Deadline
- Before March 1 of the same year
- Copy to employees
- Within 30 calendar days
- Keep the policy
- Three years after it stops being in effect
- New privacy rights
- None
Who needs a policy?
Count your employees in Ontario on January 1. If the number is 25 or more, you need a policy for that year.
Employees are counted as individuals, not as full-time equivalents. A part-time employee counts as one. All of the employer's locations in Ontario are added together.
What are the deadlines?
- January 1
Count employees across every Ontario location. With 25 or more, the requirement applies for the year.
- Before March 1
Have the written policy in place.
- Within 30 calendar days
Give a copy to every employee, counted from the day the policy is required.
- When the policy changes
Give employees the changed policy within 30 calendar days of the change.
- New hires
Give a copy within 30 days of their start date, or of the day the policy is required if that is later.
- Assignment employees
Give a copy within 24 hours of the start of the assignment, or within 30 days of the day the policy is required if that is later.
What counts as electronic monitoring?
The guide does not give a closed definition. It gives examples: GPS tracking of a delivery vehicle, sensors that time how quickly cashiers scan items, and tracking the websites employees visit during working hours.
The requirement covers monitoring on equipment the employer issues and on personal devices used for work. It applies whether the employee works on site, at home or in a hybrid arrangement. Time tracking software, screenshots and application tracking all belong in the policy.
What must the policy contain?
Required contents
- A statement of whether the employer electronically monitors employees
- If it does, a description of how the employer monitors
- The circumstances in which it monitors
- The purposes for which the information may be used
- The date the policy was prepared
- The date of every change, with day, month and year
An employer that does not monitor still needs a policy if it has 25 or more employees. The policy then says so.
How do you give employees the policy?
The guide accepts three methods:
- a printed copy
- an attachment to an email, if the employee can print it
- a link to the document online, if the employee has a reasonable opportunity to access it and a printer
What does the law not do?
This is the part many summaries get wrong.
What the rule does
- Requires a written policy and its dates
- Requires a copy for every employee, on a deadline
- Requires you to keep each policy for three years after it ends
What it does not do
- Give employees a right not to be monitored
- Create new privacy rights
- Limit you to the purposes written in the policy
Complaints are narrow as well. An employee can complain to the ministry only about a failure to provide the policy on time. Other alleged breaches of the policy rules cannot be the subject of a complaint or an investigation by an employment standards officer.
Other laws still apply. Canadian privacy law, human rights law and any collective agreement may restrict what you collect and how you use it.
What does a policy look like?
Adapt this outline to what you actually do, and have counsel review it.
ELECTRONIC MONITORING POLICY 1. Does [Company name] electronically monitor employees? Yes. [Company name] monitors employees in the ways described below. 2. How and in what circumstances Time tracking software on company computers records, during scheduled working hours only: the application in use and its window title, the domain of websites visited, idle time, and screenshots taken at intervals of [minimum] to [maximum] minutes with [blur level] blur. Nothing is recorded outside scheduled working hours or on non-working days. [Add every other kind of monitoring you use, such as building access cards, vehicle GPS, email security scanning or call recording.] 3. Purposes The information may be used to record hours worked and attendance, to report time against projects and clients, to protect company systems, and to support performance management and workplace investigations. 4. Access and retention Activity records are visible to the employee, their manager and administrators. Screenshots are kept for [period] and activity data for [period]. 5. Dates Prepared on: [day, month, year] Changed on: [day, month, year]
For a longer version with clauses on employee rights and questions, use the employee monitoring policy template. To introduce it well, see how to tell employees they are being monitored.
How does BirdsEye map to the policy?
The policy has to match the settings. In BirdsEye the settings are few and visible.
| Policy question | Where the answer lives in BirdsEye |
|---|---|
| How do you monitor? | Application, website domain, idle time, screenshots and optional webcam clips |
| In what circumstances? | Only inside the working hours and working days you set |
| How often are screenshots taken? | A minimum and maximum interval, with blur off, light or heavy |
| Who can see the data? | Administrators see everyone, managers see their own teams, employees see their own |
| How long is it kept? | Retention you set, with separate settings for screenshots and webcam clips |
Each employee sees the same rules on a screen in the desktop agent. See security and privacy.
Frequently asked questions
Does Ontario's law stop employers from monitoring employees?
No. It requires a written policy that describes the monitoring. It does not create a right for employees not to be monitored.
Do part-time employees count toward the 25?
Yes. Each employee counts as one, whatever their hours. Full-time equivalents are not used.
Do we need a policy if we do not monitor anyone?
Yes, if you had 25 or more employees on January 1. The policy states that you do not electronically monitor employees.
How long must we keep an old policy?
Three years after the policy is no longer in effect.