Ontario's Working for Workers Act, 2021 ("WWA") received Royal Assent on December 2, 2021. Among other things, the WWA amended the Employment Standards Act, 2000 ("ESA") to include a requirement for employers with 25 or more employees to have a written workplace policy with respect to disconnection from work.

On February 22, 2022, Ontario updated its Guide to the Employment Standards Act ("Guide") to include information on disconnection from work policies. For reference, the term "disconnecting from work" is defined in the ESA to mean not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls or sending or reviewing other messages, to be free from the performance of work.

As a key starting point, despite the framing of this change to the ESA in various media reports as creating a "right to disconnect", the Guide clarifies and confirms that the ESA does not require that employers create a new "right" for employees to disconnect from work. Rather, it requires that employers put in place a policy to inform employees of what the organizational approach is to disconnection (whether new or existing, and whether based on existing ESA rules regarding time free from work or based on an organizational approach that exceeds those rules).

The Guide provides examples of what a disconnecting from work policy may address, including:

• expectations, if any, to read or reply to work-related emails or answer work-related phone calls after their shift or...

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