Disconnecting from work policy in Ontario: who needs one, what it must say, and the March 1 deadline
Updated 2026-10-30. Rules current to October 23, 2026. A plain-language summary, not legal advice. EmployerReady is not affiliated with the Government of Ontario.
If your organization employed 25 or more people in Ontario on January 1, the Employment Standards Act requires a written policy on disconnecting from work to be in place before March 1 of that year, with a copy to every employee. The content is largely up to you. The dates, the headcount and the copies are not.
Who needs the policy
The test is a single day. Count the employees you employ in Ontario on January 1. If the number is 25 or more, the requirement applies for that calendar year. If it is 24 or fewer, it does not, even if you hire past 25 in May. The reverse is also true: if you had 25 on January 1 and dropped to 20 in June, you still need the policy until the next January 1 count.
Count people, not full-time equivalents. A part-time or casual employee counts as one. Add up every Ontario location, and include employees on leave, on lay-off (while the employment relationship continues), on probation, on definite-term contracts, and officers who work for wages. Related employers that the ESA treats as one employer count together. Temporary help agency assignees count for the agency, not for the client they are placed with. For a fuller walkthrough see how to count employees.
What “disconnecting from work” means
The ESA defines it 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. The list is not exhaustive; other work-related communications are covered too.
What the policy must contain
The Act sets few content rules. The policy must:
- be about disconnecting from work, as defined above;
- state the date it was prepared and the date of any changes, giving the day, month and year;
- apply to all of your employees in Ontario, including managers, executives and shareholders who are employees. You may set different expectations for different groups (office staff versus store staff, for example), in one document or several, but everyone must be covered.
Beyond that, the ESA does not prescribe the wording or a minimum length. The policy can stand alone or sit inside an HR manual. The government’s guide suggests a policy may address your expectations, if any, about reading or replying to emails or calls after a shift ends, whether those expectations change with the time of day, the subject or who is calling, and whether staff should set out-of-office replies and voicemail messages when they are not scheduled to work.
What the policy does not do
The ESA does not require the policy to give employees a right to disconnect, and the policy requirement itself does not create one. Employees’ existing rights to be free from work come from other ESA rules: hours of work and eating periods, vacation with pay, public holidays, and the rules on when work is deemed to be performed. Those rules keep applying. Time an employee spends reading or drafting work emails at home after a shift is generally working time, even where a policy says not to work from home.
If your policy promises more than the ESA requires, that promise may count as a greater right or benefit and become enforceable under the Act. If it does not, the government’s guide says the policy is not enforceable under the ESA, though the other ESA rules on hours of work, eating periods, vacation and public holidays still apply.
Deadlines and copies
| Event | What is due |
|---|---|
| January 1 | Count employees in Ontario. 25 or more means the rules apply this year. |
| Before March 1 | Written policy in place for all employees. |
| Within 30 days of preparing or changing the policy | A copy to every employee: printed, as an email attachment they can print, or as a link they can reasonably access and print. |
| Within 30 days of a new employee starting | A copy to the new employee. |
| Three years after a version stops being in effect | Keep a copy of every version until then. |
Once the policy exists you do not write a new one every March 1. You do recount every January 1, give copies to new hires, and re-issue copies when you change the wording. The same January 1 count triggers the electronic monitoring policy, so it is convenient to prepare the two together.
Sources
- Employment Standards Act, 2000 (s. 21.1.1 definition, s. 21.1.2 policy and copies, s. 15(8.1) records)
- Your guide to the ESA: written policy on disconnecting from work (ontario.ca: counting, content, enforcement)
Common questions
Who needs a disconnecting from work policy in Ontario?
Any employer that employs 25 or more employees in Ontario on January 1 of a year. The policy must be in place before March 1 of that year (ESA s. 21.1.2). Employers under 25 on January 1 are not required to have one that year.
What must a disconnecting from work policy include?
It must be about disconnecting from work as the ESA defines it, state the date it was prepared and the date of any changes, and apply to all employees in Ontario. The Act does not prescribe other content or a minimum length.
Does the policy give employees a right to disconnect?
Not by itself. The ESA requires a written policy; it does not require the policy to create a right to disconnect. Existing rules on hours of work, eating periods, vacation and public holidays continue to apply.
When do employees get a copy of the policy?
Within 30 days of the policy being prepared or changed, and new employees within 30 days of starting. A printed copy, a printable email attachment or an accessible link all count.
How long do I keep old versions of the policy?
Three years after each version stops being in effect (ESA s. 15(8.1)).