Ontario's Salary Transparency Law 2026: What Job Postings Must Now Include

Since January 1, 2026, Ontario employers with 25 or more employees must include expected pay in their publicly advertised job postings. The rules come from Ontario's Working for Workers Four Act, 2024 and Working for Workers Five Act, 2024, which amended the Employment Standards Act (ESA), and from a regulation, O. Reg. 476/24. Postings must also say whether the employer uses AI to screen applicants and whether the job is an existing vacancy, and employers must tell interviewed applicants whether a hiring decision has been made. This guide sums up the Ontario government's own guidance (Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, ontario.ca), then covers how to use posted ranges in a negotiation.

What Changed on January 1, 2026

For publicly advertised job postings posted on or after January 1, 2026, employers covered by the rules must:

1. Include expected pay. The posting must give the expected compensation or a range. A range can be no wider than $50,000 a year: $85,000–$135,000 is allowed, but $85,000–$140,000 is not. The pay requirement doesn't apply if the expected pay, or the top of the range, is more than $200,000 a year.
2. Disclose AI screening. If the employer uses artificial intelligence to screen, assess or select applicants, the posting must say so. This applies when a recruiting firm does the screening on the employer's behalf too. A short statement is enough; the employer doesn't have to describe the system.
3. Say whether the job is an existing vacancy. The posting must state whether it is for an existing vacancy, meaning a position that is imminently available to fill, or not. The employer doesn't have to fill it.
4. Drop Canadian experience requirements. Postings and application forms can't require Canadian work experience or education credentials, or an established professional network or client base in Canada. Professional licensing requirements are still allowed.
5. Tell interviewed applicants the outcome. If you are interviewed, the employer must tell you whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days of your interview, or of your last interview if you had more than one. They can tell you in person, in writing, by phone, email or text, or through a status update on their job portal if they send you the link. This applies to interviews held on or after January 1, 2026, even for jobs posted earlier. A preliminary screening call doesn't count as an interview.

Employers must also keep a copy of each posting and application form for 3 years after the posting comes down.

What Counts as Pay

Compensation includes an hourly rate, salary, commission, piece rate, and bonuses tied to hours, production or efficiency. It doesn't include tips, expense reimbursements, stock options, or bonuses that are both discretionary and unrelated to hours, production or efficiency. So a posting doesn't have to mention stock options. If pay includes more than one type, such as salary plus commission, the posting must cover each type, though it doesn't need the full details.

Who the Law Covers

The rules apply to:

• Employers with 25 or more employees on the day the posting goes up. Part-time and casual employees each count as one, and employees at every Ontario location count.
• Publicly advertised job postings: external postings for a specific position, advertised to the general public in any way. That includes postings on third-party job boards; the employer is responsible for what those postings say.

The rules don't apply to:

• Employers with fewer than 25 employees on the day of posting
• General recruitment campaigns or "we're hiring" signs that don't advertise a specific position
• Postings open only to the employer's existing employees
• Positions where the work is performed outside Ontario
• Postings made before January 1, 2026
• The Ontario government (the Crown) and Crown agencies
• Federally regulated employers, such as banks and airlines, which fall under federal labour law rather than the ESA (ontario.ca)

And the pay requirement alone doesn't apply to jobs where the expected pay, or the top of the range, is over $200,000 a year. That exception can apply to senior tech roles with high salaries.

How Many Ontario Postings Show Pay?

Many employers write the pay range into the job description rather than a separate pay field, so if a listing shows no pay, open the full posting before you conclude that it's missing. Some postings are also exempt, as listed above. Our Tech Hiring Report tracks how many Ontario tech postings list pay, counting ranges written in the description.

How to Use the Law to Negotiate Better Offers

You now see the employer's expected pay before you apply. Here's how to use it:

1. Treat the range as a guide, not a promise. The law doesn't require the employer to offer pay inside the posted range. But the range tells you what the employer expected to pay when it posted the job.
2. Aim for where your experience fits. If a company posts $90,000–$120,000 and you meet all or most of the requirements, it's reasonable to ask for the upper half of the range and explain why.
3. Ask about offers below the range. If a company offers you $85,000 for a role posted at $90,000–$120,000, ask: "The posting listed $90,000 to $120,000. Can you help me understand why this offer is below that?"
4. Compare roles before you apply. If one company posts $90,000–$120,000 and another posts $130,000–$165,000 for similar work, you can see the gap before you spend time on either application.
5. Check official wage data. Canada's Job Bank publishes wages by occupation and region. In the Toronto Region, the median wage for software engineers and designers (NOC 21231) is $56.49 an hour, or about $117,500 a year at 40 hours a week (Job Bank, 2023–2024 data).

What Happens If a Company Doesn't Comply?

The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development takes reports of possible non-compliance by email at PubliclyAdvertisedJP@ontario.ca. Include the employer's name and contact information, the physical address of the business, and a link to or copy of the posting.

Employers that break the ESA can face enforcement action such as a compliance order, a notice of contravention with a monetary penalty, or prosecution. If convicted, a corporation can be fined up to $100,000 for a first conviction, up to $250,000 for a second and up to $500,000 for a third or later one (ontario.ca).

Before you report a posting, check whether an exception applies: the employer may have fewer than 25 employees, be federally regulated, or be hiring for a role that pays over $200,000. You can also ask the recruiter directly: "Can you share the pay range for this role?"

How Ontario Compares With BC

BC's Pay Transparency Act has required pay information in public job postings since November 1, 2023 (BC Gov News, 2023). BC's rule applies to employers of every size and covers jobs advertised outside BC that are open to BC residents, including remote jobs. Unlike Ontario, BC doesn't limit how wide a range can be (Government of BC). See our guide to Vancouver tech jobs for more.

Finding Ontario Tech Jobs

Browse Toronto, Ottawa, Waterloo and Mississauga tech jobs on LANDTHATROLE. Every listing comes from an employer's own hiring system (Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby and others). We check about 28,800 employer job boards on 24 hiring systems every day, and when an employer closes a job, it closes here too. A listing shows pay when the employer's hiring system provides it; otherwise, check the full posting. Browsing and applying are free, and you apply on the employer's own site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the law apply to remote jobs posted by Ontario companies?

It depends on where the work is done, not where the employer is based. The rules don't apply to postings for positions where the work is performed outside Ontario. A remote job that you would do from Ontario isn't excluded, so the rules apply if the employer has 25 or more employees on the day it posts the job, is covered by Ontario's Employment Standards Act, and no other exception applies.

Can employers post very wide salary ranges to technically comply?

No. In Ontario, a posted range can be no wider than $50,000 a year. For example, $85,000–$135,000 is allowed, but $85,000–$140,000 is not. If the expected pay, or the top of the range, is over $200,000 a year, the employer doesn't have to include pay at all.

Does the law apply to contract and freelance positions?

The rules are part of the Employment Standards Act, which covers employees, including employees on fixed-term or specific-task contracts. They don't cover genuine independent contractors, who are in business for themselves. What matters is the actual working relationship, not the label in the contract. If you're unsure whether a role is employment, ontario.ca's guide to employee status explains the difference.

Do all Ontario job postings have to include a salary range?

No. The rule covers publicly advertised postings from employers with 25 or more employees, posted on or after January 1, 2026, for work done in Ontario. Employers can give a single expected amount or a range. Exceptions include jobs paying over $200,000 a year, internal-only postings, general "we're hiring" ads, the Ontario government and its agencies, and federally regulated employers such as banks.