Employee monitoring policy Ontario: Part XI.1
What Employee Monitoring Law Planner sets out for a monitoring practice at a site in Ontario: the notice, the written policy, the representative step, recording consent and what is not allowed, each cited to the law or the official guidance behind it. This is not every law that applies there.
- Location
- Ontario
- Laws placed
- Ontario Employment Standards Act, Part XI.1 (written policy on electronic monitoring) 2000
- Guidance placed
- ILO Code of Practice on the Protection of Workers' Personal Data 1997 official guidance, not law
- Read on
- 30 Sep 2026
- Conditions
- Ontario Employment Standards Act, Part XI.1 (written policy on electronic monitoring) 2000 is placed when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January; "not sure" places it as a question.
What each practice needs here
20 practice classes| Practice | Representative step | Notice and policy | Recording consent | Not allowed | Paperwork |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI emotion or sentiment detection | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Keystroke logging | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Screenshots or screen recording | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Productivity or activity scoring | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Idle-time tracking | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Webcam or presence checks | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Email and messaging review | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| DLP and email content filtering | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Website or email blocking | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Web and app usage logging | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Biometric time clock | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Access control logs | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| CCTV (break, change or wash rooms) | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| CCTV (work areas) | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| GPS or vehicle telematics | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Mobile device location | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Call or speech analytics | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
| Call recording | none held | statutory requirementpolicy copy in 30 days (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January)written policy (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) | none held | none held | none held |
Every requirement held here
- Noticestatutory requirementA copy of the written policy to every employee within 30 days of the date the policy was required, and to each new employee within 30 days of starting. (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) Ontario ESA 41.1.1(3)Ontario ESA 41.1.1(4)
- Written policystatutory requirementA written electronic monitoring policy covering all employees, in place before 1 March, saying whether the employer monitors, how and in what circumstances, the purposes, and the dates it was prepared and changed; kept for three years after it ends. (when you say 25 or more employees in Ontario on 1 January) Ontario ESA 41.1.1(1)Ontario ESA 41.1.1(2) para 1Ontario ESA 41.1.1(2) para 1 iOntario ESA 41.1.1(2) para 1 iiOntario ESA 15(8.2)
- Assessmentofficial guidance, not lawContinuous monitoring only for health and safety or the protection of property; monitoring output never the sole basis of a performance judgement. ILO code para 6.14(3)ILO code para 5.6 official guidance, not law
- Retentionofficial guidance, not lawKept only as long as the purpose justifies. ILO code para 8.5 official guidance, not law
Findings a line here can raise
7 of 13- 1 Representative step before start not recorded
- 2 Notice not recorded, or its period not met
- 3 Written policy not recorded where the law asks for one
- 4 Covert monitoring
- 10 Continuous, keystroke or screenshot monitoring with no assessment recorded
- 11 Retention not set, or above the period you set
- 13 Lawful basis not recorded for an EU or UK line
The provisions cited here
17 provisionsILO code para 12.2(b)Inform and consult representatives before introducing electronic monitoring official guidance, not lawWhere workers' representatives exist, and in line with national law and practice, inform and consult them before electronic surveillance of how workers act at work is brought in.
Ontario ESA 41.1.1(3)Give every employee a copy within 30 days, and again within 30 days of any change An employer required to have the policy must give a copy to each of its employees within 30 days of the day it was required to have the policy in place and, when an existing policy is changed, within 30 days of the change. Per the Ministry guide the copy may be a printed copy, an email attachment the employee can print, or a link where the employee has a reasonable opportunity to access the document and a printer; no fresh copy is needed each year unless the policy changes. This is one of the three subsections a complaint may be made about.
Ontario ESA 41.1.1(4)Give each new employee a copy within 30 days The employer must give a new employee a copy within 30 days of the later of the day the person becomes an employee and the day the employer was required to have the policy in place.
ILO code para 6.14(1)Tell workers in advance about monitoring and minimize intrusion official guidance, not lawBefore any monitoring starts, workers should learn why it is done, when it runs, how it works (methods and techniques) and which data it gathers, and the employer must keep the intrusion on workers' privacy as small as possible.
ILO code para 5.8Keep workers and representatives informed official guidance, not lawWorkers and their representatives should be told about every data collection process, the rules governing it and their rights.
Ontario ESA 41.1.1(1)Have a written electronic monitoring policy in place for all employees An employer that employs 25 or more employees on 1 January of any year must, before 1 March of that year, ensure it has a written policy in place, covering all of its employees, on the electronic monitoring of employees. Per the Ministry guide the policy must cover every employee to whom the provision applies, including managers, executives and shareholders who are employees, and every assignment employee placed with the employer in Ontario; different groups may have different policies, in one document or several, or the policy may sit inside a wider HR manual. Once in place, a new policy is not needed each year.
Ontario ESA 41.1.1(2) para 1State whether the employer electronically monitors employees The written policy must say whether the employer electronically monitors employees. Per the Ministry guide, an employer that does not monitor must say so expressly in the policy.
Ontario ESA 41.1.1(2) para 1 iDescribe how and in what circumstances employees may be monitored Where the employer monitors, the policy must describe how it may electronically monitor employees and the circumstances in which it may do so. The Ministry guide's examples: GPS tracking of a delivery vehicle for the whole workday, every workday; software that monitors employee emails and online chats at any time.
Ontario ESA 41.1.1(2) para 1 iiState the purposes for which monitoring information may be used Where the employer monitors, the policy must set out the purposes for which it may use information obtained through electronic monitoring. Section 41.1.1(7) confirms that the section does not limit how the employer may use that information, so the stated purposes describe the employer's intentions rather than cap its use; other law (privacy statutes, collective agreements) may still limit use.
Ontario ESA 15(8.2)Keep every required policy for three years after it ceases to have effect The employer must retain, or arrange for another person to retain, a copy of every written electronic monitoring policy required under Part XI.1 for three years after that policy stops being in effect.
ILO code para 6.14(2)Secret monitoring only where national law allows it or on reasonable suspicion official guidance, not lawCovert monitoring should be allowed only where national law permits it or where there are reasonable grounds to suspect a crime or other grave misconduct.
ILO code para 6.14(3)Continuous monitoring only for health and safety or protection of property official guidance, not lawMonitoring that never stops should be allowed only where it is needed for workplace health and safety or to protect property.
ILO code para 5.6Monitoring data not the sole basis of performance evaluation official guidance, not lawOutput from electronic surveillance should never be the sole input when a worker's performance is judged.
ILO code para 8.5Retain only as long as the purpose justifies official guidance, not lawKeep personal data only as long as the specific purposes of collection justify, unless a worker asks to stay on a candidate list for a set period, national law requires retention, or the employer or worker needs the data for legal proceedings about an existing or former employment relationship.
ILO code para 5.1Fair, employment-related processing within the law official guidance, not law5.1 Lawful, fair and employment-related processing. Handle workers' data lawfully and fairly, and solely for reasons that bear directly on the person's job.
ILO code para 6.5No data on sex life, beliefs or convictions, save exceptionally official guidance, not lawEmployers should not collect data on a worker's sex life, political, religious or other beliefs, or criminal convictions, except in rare cases where national law permits it and the information bears directly on a decision about the job.
ILO code para 6.6No data on union membership or activities unless required official guidance, not lawEmployers should not collect data on a worker's membership of a workers' organization or trade union activities unless the law or a collective agreement requires or permits it.