A new Ontario law means your job search might look a little different in 2026

A law mandating new requirements for job postings by companies of over 25 people will go into effect starting Jan. 1, 2026 in Ontario.

In the new year, companies have to disclose in publicly advertised job postings whether AI will be used when selecting a candidate and if the position advertised is vacant, according to incoming changes to the Ontario Employment Standards Act.

Postings will need to list the salary range for the position with a maximum difference of $50,000 and mention other forms of compensation, including commission and bonuses.

The law will also require companies to follow up with applicants within 45 days of their last interview to let them know whether they were successful.

Andrea Little, a freelance digital user-experience designer from Kitchener, has been searching for a full-time position since her previous employer did some restructuring this fall. 

She said many companies don’t provide details about the role or pay in their job postings. Little said she thinks transparency requirements will be helpful for applicants.

“Having that information up front, it helps me better gauge whether that role’s a fit and if it’s worth pursuing,” she said.

But there’s debate among experts about whether the transparency laws will change much for job seekers. 

Just because the salaries are posted as a certain range in the listing, does not mean companies are required to pay that amount, said Travis O’Rourke, president of recruitment firm Hays Canada.

O’Rourke said companies could post a job with a high rank and salary, but by the time the interviews happen, the company could decide they could get by filling a lower level position and adjust the pay and title accordingly. 

“This legislation allows you to completely do that,” he said. 

AI and the application game

Employers across the country are increasingly using AI while selecting candidates. Little said applicants don’t know who, or what, will be receiving their application.

“You can submit something online and a human will never see it,” said Little.

“If a job posting is written in present tense and your resume typically is written in past tense, it won’t see it as a match.” 

Eventually, if the application makes it past the AI stage of screening, a real person will read it. So applicants are having to walk the line of showing character and appealing to algorithms, Little said.

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Companies are using AI hiring bots to screen, shortlist and talk to job candidates. Advocates say the technology frees up human workers from tedious tasks, but some applicants say it adds confusion to the process, and there are concerns about HR job losses.

O’Rourke said the incoming legislation won’t provide much help, because there’s a large umbrella of what could be considered AI and it doesn’t require employers to be specific about how it is used.

Self-advocacy, less ghosting potential benefits

But posted salary ranges could make a difference for current employees of the companies that are hiring, according to Margaret Yap, a human resources management professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. 

If a current employee sees a posting for another role in their position with a higher minimum salary, they can advocate for themselves to receive the same pay. 

“Management will have to deal with all of these questions from their current employees,” Yap said.

Posted salaries could help improve workplace equity because it allows employees to better understand how their work is valued, said Allison Venditti, founder of Toronto-based pay advocacy group Moms At Work.

She said it could start open conversations about compensation and potential disparities.

“There was a silencing [culture] in place to get people not to talk about it,” she said. “And I’m saying, if you don’t want people to talk about it, you clearly know you’re doing something wrong.”

A common thread among everyone CBC News spoke to is that requiring companies to follow-up with applicants is a good thing. 

“With interview stages typically having an average of five interviews, to make it to round four and then not hear anything is — it’s hard,” said Little. “And the more it happens, the more devastating it becomes.”

Venditti said it’s also “really bad HR.”

“The fact that we have to legislate that is really sad,” she said.