Welcome to our 2025 year in review! As we approach another year end, it is a great time to look back and consider the top 5 HR compliance stories from 2025 – all of which will have ongoing implications for Canadian employers in the coming year.
Consistent with previous years, Compliance Works reported on hundreds of changes to Canadian employment laws this year. In our 2025 year in review, we highlight 5 key HR compliance updates.
- Sick Leave: Since the COVID pandemic, we have seen many changes to sick leave entitlements in Canada. 2025 was no different. For the 5th year in a row, sick leave tops our list of legislative changes. Similar to last year, we saw more provinces add long-term sick leaves and restrictions on medical notes.
- Employer Transparency: Ontario has been the leading the country with its ongoing expansion of employer transparency requirements. This year, the province pulled the trigger on its new rules regarding job advertisement and interview requirements, which will come into force on January 1, 2026.
- Workplace Harassment & Violence: Two provinces – Québec and Nova Scotia – took additional steps to ensure employees are protected from harassment and violence in the workplace.
- Termination of Employment: While not typically an area of big change, we saw a couple of interesting amendments which may impact employers that are conducting mass employee terminations.
- Québec Health & Safety: Employers with Québec employees usually must be aware of unique HR law requirements. In 2025, changes to Québec health and safety laws actually made these laws more consistent with the rest of Canada.
If you are interested to see how the 2025 year in review compares to previous years, read our earlier posts for recaps of HR compliance developments in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
#1 Sick Leave
In 2025, more provinces followed last year’s trend – restricting medical notes for short-term sick leaves and adding new entitlements to long-term illness leaves.
- Medical Notes: Following Ontario and Québec’s lead (which passed laws restricting an employer’s ability to request medical notes for short-term sick leaves in 2024), British Columbia (in force now) and Saskatchewan (in force as of January 1, 2026) implemented similar restrictions this year.
- Long-Term Sick Leaves: Last year, many provinces responded to the increase in Employment Insurance sickness benefits to 26 weeks by establishing new 27-week leaves of absence for illness or injury. This year, Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan added similar entitlements.
Having trouble keeping track of all of the changes to sick leave? Download our in-depth review comparing sick leave requirements across Canada. (This is a sample of the kind of information you can access on a regular basis with a subscription to Compliance Works!)
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#2 Employer Transparency
Our 2025 year in review would not be complete without an update on employer transparency! Over the last few years, several provinces have implemented pay transparency laws. At the same time, Ontario has implemented a wide range of changes aimed at increasing employer transparency, including requiring employers with 25 or more employees to have disconnect from work and electronic monitoring policies.
Most recently, Ontario passed laws governing transparency in job advertisements. These amendments are coming into force on January 1, 2026. These new employer disclosure obligations will require employers with 25+ employees to include the following information in job ads:
- expected compensation or a range of expected compensation;
- any use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the screening, assessment, or selection of applicants;
- whether the posting is for an existing vacancy.
In addition, Ontario employers will have to provide any interviewees with a status update regarding hiring decisions.
For more details, see our earlier post – Preparing for Pay Transparency in Job Postings – which includes a review of issues to consider and tips on how to prepare for Ontario pay transparency.
#3 Workplace Harassment & Violence
While most provinces have had workplace harassment and violence laws in place for several years, Nova Scotia was a bit of an outlier. The province did not have any harassment requirements in their health and safety legislation – until 2025. As of September 1, 2025, Nova Scotia employers must implement a written workplace harassment policy that includes components such as:
- a commitment to ensure that no employee will be subjected to workplace harassment
- procedures for reporting and investigating workplace harassment
- privacy protections for complainants
- a commitment to take appropriate corrective action in response to “any person under their direction” who harasses an employee.
Québec has been expanding its harassment and violence laws over the last few years. This includes requiring employers to protect employees from physical or psychological violence, and specifying that psychosocial risks must be identified as part of Québec health and safety programs. Physical/psychological violence and psychosocial risks have been deemed to include sexual violence.
Building on these new requirements, Québec recently published a draft regulation, which will clarify that sexual violence can occur inside and outside the workplace, including via technology, and may take place during interactions between workers, with clients or with the employer. It also sets out new requirements for employers, including duties to warn employees of sexual violence risks and implement sexual violence complaint and investigation procedures.
#4 Termination of Employment
Employers who are conducting mass terminations of employees located in Ontario or Saskatchewan should be aware of recent and upcoming changes.
- Ontario recently passed Bill 30, Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025, which adds a new 3-day, unpaid job seeking leave for employees who have been provided with notice of group termination (i.e., 50 or more employees receive notice of termination). Employees can use this new leave to conduct job searches, interviews and training.
- Saskatchewan increased their threshold for notice of group termination from 10 to 25 employees.
Ontario employers should also keep in mind recent changes that permit extended lay-offs of 35 or more weeks subject to certain rules, including employee agreement and Director approval.
#5 Québec Health & Safety
On October 1, 2025, significant changes to Québec health and safety laws came into force – expanding employer legal obligations in Québec workplaces.
Historically, only Québec employers in certain designated industries had to establish a health and safety committee, appoint a representative, and develop a prevention program. Québec Bill 59, An Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime expanded these requirements to all employers with 20 or more workers. And even small employers (with less than 20 workers) have new requirements to develop health and safety action plans and appoint liaison officers. These changes align Quebec more closely with other Canadian provinces, which typically require employers with 20+ employees – across all industries – to have health and safety committees and programs.
For further details, read our earlier post – Update: Quebec Health and Safety Laws.
2025 Year in Review Made Easy
Compliance with constantly changing employment laws can be challenging and time consuming. Compliance Works software tracks amendments to laws in real-time, ensuring that our subscribers are the first to know about critical HR law changes that will affect their day-to-day business. If you need a quick recap, Compliance Works makes it easy to create your own 2025 year in review – focusing on what’s important to your business!
To learn more about how Compliance Works can help your HR team to succeed, contact us or email us at info@complianceworks.ca.
