Many Ontario employers now need 'electronic monitoring' policies. Here's what that means for workers

Many Ontario companies will soon need to disclose to staff whether they’re electronically monitoring their activities.

In April, Ontario became the first province to pass a new transparency law, as part of the Working for Workers Act, requiring companies with 25 or more workers to create a written policy clearly outlining whether employee use of computers, cellphones, GPS systems and other electronic devices are being tracked, and if so, to what extent. 

According to the Ministry of Labour, the policy needs to contain information on whether the employer electronically monitors its workers, and if so, “a description of how and in what circumstances the employer does this.” The ministry also says employers need to disclose the “purpose” of collecting such information. These policies will apply to employees regardless of whether they work remotely, in an office, or in the field.

As of Tuesday, workplaces are required to have those policies established and in place. Within 30 days, that information needs to be disclosed to staff.

Speaking with CTV News Toronto, Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said that while employers are not required to report their policies to the government, inspectors going into workplaces will be ensuring the policies are posted publicly.

“Today's the first day that employers have to have a policy in place to tell workers if and how and why they're being monitored electronically,” McNaughton said. “If those policies aren’t in place, then workers can call the Ministry of Labour.”

However, the ministry is going to begin with an education-first approach to enforcement, McNaughton said.

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In May, Howard Alan Levitt, an employment lawyer and senior partner with the firm Levitt Sheikh, told CTVNews.ca the new policy won’t change whether your employer is monitoring you – they are now just required to communicate that information.

“It doesn't change the law in terms of what employers can do, but it requires employers to tell [employees],” he said.

Before, employers could tell employees they had the right to surveil and retain certain information, but were not compelled to tell employees whether they were implementing such practices.

“Employers can conduct surveillance, always could … which is entirely legal in 95 per cent of the cases,” Levitt said.

“But now they have to tell employees that they’re doing it.”

With files from CTV News’ Alexandra Mae Jones.