Electronic Monitoring Policies in Ontario: The Written Policy Employers Must Have

If your business tracks employee location through a company vehicle, reviews computer or email activity, or uses any other technology to monitor employees electronically, Ontario law may already require you to have a written electronic monitoring policy — regardless of whether you have ever formally documented what you monitor or why.

This requirement was added to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and applies to employers that meet a size threshold set out in the ESA and its regulations. Many employers who meet the threshold are not aware the requirement exists, or have a policy that is out of date or too vague to satisfy it. This article covers what the law requires and what a compliant policy needs to say.

What the Law Requires

The ESA requires covered employers to have a written policy addressing how and in what circumstances the employer electronically monitors employees, and to provide that policy to employees. This is a disclosure obligation — the law does not generally prohibit electronic monitoring itself, but it does require covered employers to be transparent about it in writing.

The requirement applies based on the number of employees a business has, measured against a threshold set in the legislation. That threshold, and the date used to measure it, can be adjusted by the government — always confirm the current number and measurement date on the official ESA guidance before assuming your business is or is not covered.

Which Employers Need a Policy

Coverage is based on employee headcount, not on industry or the type of monitoring used. A business that grows past the threshold during the year should not assume it is automatically exempt just because it started the year below it — the rules around when the obligation kicks in and how the count is measured are specific, and worth confirming rather than assuming.

Even employers below the threshold may find it good practice to have a written policy, since transparency about monitoring reduces employee relations friction and can support the employer's position under other privacy-related obligations.

What Counts as "Electronic Monitoring"

The concept is broad and generally covers any electronic means an employer uses to track an employee's activities, movements, or communications — GPS tracking on a company vehicle or device, monitoring of computer use or keystrokes, video surveillance tied to specific employees, and review of company email or messaging accounts can all potentially fall within scope, depending on how they are used.

What the Policy Must Cover

A compliant policy generally needs to describe:

• Whether, and how, the employer electronically monitors employees.
• The circumstances in which monitoring takes place and the purposes for which the information may be used.
• When the policy was prepared and, if applicable, updated.

The policy needs to be provided to employees (existing employees, and new employees within a set window after they start), and to any assignment employees supplied by a temporary help agency in certain circumstances. It is not enough to have a policy that exists somewhere internally but was never actually distributed.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming the requirement only applies to businesses with obvious surveillance tools like security cameras, rather than more everyday monitoring like tracking company email or a company phone.
• Writing a policy so vague ("we may monitor employees from time to time") that it does not meaningfully describe how or why monitoring actually happens.
• Failing to update the policy when new monitoring tools or practices are introduced.
• Never actually distributing the policy to employees, or forgetting to provide it to new hires within the required window.

Frequently asked questions