plainkit

Ontario's $50,000 pay-range rule, explained

Since January 1, 2026, an Ontario employer with 25 or more employees must state the expected compensation, or a range, in every publicly advertised job posting — and the range can't be wider than $50,000. Postings above $200,000 are exempt.

The rule in one sentence

A publicly advertised posting must include the expected compensation for the position or the range of expected compensation; if a range, the top may not exceed the bottom by more than $50,000. It comes from the Employment Standards Act's job-posting requirements (Part III.1) and O. Reg. 476/24.

What counts as "compensation"

It follows the ESA definition of wages. In: hourly rate, salary, commission, piece-work rates, and bonuses tied to hours, production, or efficiency. Out: tips, discretionary bonuses, benefits, overtime pay, expense and travel reimbursement, room and board allowances, pension contributions, stock options. So a commission role is posted as a base range plus the commission structure — the base is the range; the commission is disclosed alongside, not folded into the top number.

Hourly jobs

The cap is on annual compensation, so an hourly range is judged by its annual equivalent. At 40 hours a week (2,080 hours a year), $1 of hourly range is $2,080 a year; the $50,000 cap works out to a hourly range about $24 wide. $18.00–$22.00 per hour is $8,320 wide — fine. Almost every hourly range you'd realistically post is inside the cap.

Above $200,000

If the compensation, or the top of the range, is more than $200,000 a year, the disclosure requirement doesn't apply. That's the posted figure, not what some candidate might negotiate. If you also post in BC or PEI, those provinces still want a figure — "from $210,000" covers all three.

What fails

What passes

Compensation: $58,000–$66,000 per year. · Pay: $21.50–$25.00 per hour. · Base salary $50,000–$60,000 per year plus commission of 8% on net sales.

Who has to do this

Employers with 25 or more employees on the day the posting goes up — head-count, not full-time equivalents; part-time and casual staff count as one each. The posting must be publicly advertised (a job board, your website, social media, a sign for a specific job). General "we're hiring" notices, internal-only postings, and jobs performed outside Ontario aren't covered.

The rest of the same rule

The same regulation also requires the posting to say whether it's for an existing vacancy, to disclose AI used to screen, assess, or select applicants, and not to require "Canadian experience"; and it requires you to tell interviewed applicants within 45 days whether a hiring decision was made, and to keep the posting and application form for three years. The free checker flags all of it from the pasted text.

Sources

Checked against these pages on September 12, 2026. Information, not legal advice.