A few updates to the Ontario ESA are coming into effect this year.  The amendments noted here are provided by e2r

In December, Ontario’s Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 (Bill 229) received Royal Assent and we’ve outlined below the key legislative changes of interest to Ontario employers:

Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) – The amendments introduce two new unpaid leaves under the ESA:

1.   Long-Term Illness Leave – Effective June 19, 2025

• An employee who has been employed for at least thirteen consecutive weeks will be entitled to an unpaid leave of up to twenty-seven weeks if they are not able to perform their duties because of a serious medical condition.
• Entitlement to the leave is conditional on the employee providing a certificate or note from a qualified health practitioner (e.g., doctor, registered nurse or psychologist), confirming the employee has a serious medical condition and the period in which the employee will not perform their duties because of the serious medical condition.

2.   Placement of Child Leave – Effective TBD

• An employee with at least 13 weeks of service is entitled to an unpaid leave of up to 16 weeks after the placement or arrival of a child into the employee’s custody, care and control through adoption or surrogacy.

If you’re an Ontario employer, it only takes a few minutes see if you meet the legal requirements that apply to most workplaces in Ontario. 

Do you have the following in place?

* This list is non-exhaustive and applies to provincially-regulated employers.

In an effort to ease family physicians workload, both Ontario and Quebec are removing employers ability to ask for sick notes for absences under 3 days.  Quebec has actually implemented possible penalties of $10,000 to $1,000,000 and starts Jan. 1, 2025. 

Ontario announces the end of sick notes

On April 24, 2024, Ontario’s Health Minister announced that employers would no longer be permitted to request that a sick employee provide a doctor’s note to justify their absence. This change is part of new legislation proposed by the Minister of Labour, and is part of a larger initiative to reduce paperwork for physicians.

Under the current provisions in the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”), employees who have been employed for at least two consecutive weeks are entitled to a minimum of three days per year of sick leave. The ESA currently allows employers to require employees to provide “evidence reasonable in the circumstances” that the employee is sick. Historically, this has included the option of a doctor’s note.

The amendment abolishing “sick notes” applies to employees when using the three days of statutory sick leave under the ESA. Moving forward, employers can still require employees to provide different forms of evidence supporting their illness, such as a signed self-attestation, but such evidence cannot involve physician intervention.

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Bill 68: When And How Can An Employer Request A Medical Certificate

As of January 1, 2025, employers will no longer be able to require their employees to provide a document attesting to the reasons for their absence due to illness (e.g. a medical certificate) to justify the first three (3) periods of absences due to illness lasting three (3) days or less over a twelve (12) month period. Bill 68 does not provide for any exception allowing the employer to request a document justifying the absence during these periods, regardless of whether the absence falls at a specific time of the year (for example, before or after a statutory holiday)¹. The objective of this amendment is to reduce the administrative burden on healthcare professionals, who would otherwise have to spend time writing medical bills for short-term absences.

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I’m pleased that it looks like employers are going to get a reprieve from the larger than average past increases in the dental fee guide. The average increase for 2025 is looking to be less than half of 2024 (4.5%).

This should translate to a 2-3% LOWER increase than the past, assuming employees use dental at the same level as in the past.  Of course increased utilization and claims can drive costs higher, even with this small increase. 

Changes to the 2025 Suggested Fee Guide for General Practitioners

For 2025, there have been non-standard changes to the suggested fees. The overall weighted average change based on the frequency of procedures occurring in the average Ontario general-dental practice is 2.03 per cent.

2025 Weighted Increases by Fee Guide Section
Diagnostic  2.2%
Prevention  1.2%
Restoration  2.6%
Endodontics  2.6%
Periodontics  1.3%
Prosthodontics – Removable 2.4%
Prosthodontics – Fixed  2.2%
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery  2.4%
Orthodontics  1.5%
General Services (Adjunctive)  2.9%
Overall  2.03%

Effective January 1, 2025, the Ontario government amended the Employer Health Tax Act to eliminate the special filer provisions and change the way the exemption amount is determined for associated employers in the year of acquisition.

Read our Associated Employers webpage to learn more.

The British Columbia Pay Transparency Act (“PTA”) came into effect November 1, 2023, and requires that salary or wage information be included on all publicly advertised job postings.  Ontario is following suit in the coming year.  In the meantime, if a job could be applied for from someone in BC (think remote work), then this requirement is already in place.

I found an article from McMillan that may be helpful in understanding the requirements.

In this bulletin, we take a closer look at the new requirements for employers related to publicly advertised job postings, effective January 1, 2026, as well as the requirement to provide newly hired employees with specific employment information, effective July 1, 2025. Once in force, these requirements will apply to employers with 25 or more employees.

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