Remote work in Ontario means performing your job away from your employer’s regular workplace, usually from home, and Ontario law does not give employees an automatic right to work remotely. Your right to work from home can instead come from your employment contract, an established workplace arrangement or a human rights accommodation.
That distinction matters when an employer announces a return-to-office mandate. If remote work was temporary or your contract allows the employer to change your work location, you can be required to return. If working remotely is an important term of your employment, however, a substantial forced change can raise constructive dismissal issues.
Don’t resign or simply refuse to return to the office before getting advice. If the employer’s direction is lawful, refusing it can expose you to discipline. If the change breaches your employment agreement or ignores an accommodation need, you can have important legal rights instead.
On This Page:
- 1. Is Remote Work a Legal Right?
- 2. Can Your Employer Make You Return?
- 3. When Remote Work Becomes an Employment Term
- 4. Remote Work as Accommodation
- 5. Hours, Monitoring and Disconnecting
- 6. Termination and Severance
- 7. What Employees Should Do
Do Employees Have a Right to Remote Work in Ontario?
No. Ontario employment law does not give every employee a general right to work from home.
Whether you are entitled to remote or hybrid work usually depends on:
- Your employment contract or written job offer
- A remote-work or hybrid-work agreement
- Workplace policies
- What your employer told you when you accepted the job
- How long the arrangement has existed and whether it was described as temporary
- Whether remote work is required as a human rights accommodation
If you were hired into a fully remote position, the employer’s ability to suddenly convert that role into full-time office work can be very different from an employee who temporarily worked from home during a limited workplace program.
Your employment contract in Ontario is an important starting point.
Can Your Employer Make You Return to the Office in Ontario?
Yes, an employer can require a return to the office when doing so is consistent with your employment terms and its human rights obligations.
A return-to-office requirement is easier for an employer to impose when:
- Remote work was clearly temporary
- Your contract identifies the employer’s office as your work location
- Your agreement gives the employer reasonable flexibility over where you work
- You previously worked in the office and remote work was introduced as a temporary arrangement
- The change does not conflict with a protected accommodation need
The situation becomes more serious when the employee was hired specifically to work remotely, the contract fixes home as the work location, or the employer previously agreed to a permanent remote arrangement.
Can you refuse a return-to-office order?
Don’t refuse a return-to-office instruction outright until you know whether the employer is legally entitled to give it.
If the instruction is lawful and you simply refuse to comply, the employer can discipline you and the dispute can escalate.
If the return requirement substantially changes an important term of your employment, conflicts with your contract or ignores a valid accommodation need, your legal position is different.
Ask for the new attendance requirements, start date and work location in writing. Then review the change before deciding whether to accept or challenge it.
What if returning adds a major commute?
A major new commute can make a return-to-office requirement more significant, particularly when remote work was part of the agreed job.
The practical effect can include additional travel time, transportation costs and disruption to established family or medical arrangements.
See our guide to changes to your work location in Ontario.
When Can Remote Work Become an Important Term of Employment?
Remote work can become an important employment term when the agreement and surrounding circumstances show that working remotely forms part of the job you accepted.
Evidence can include:
- A job offer describing the position as remote
- An employment contract identifying your home as the work location
- A written permanent remote-work agreement
- Emails approving a permanent move away from the office
- Employer representations you relied on when accepting the position
- A longstanding arrangement that was never described as temporary, considered together with the rest of the employment relationship
Can ending remote work be constructive dismissal?
Yes. A substantial unilateral change to an established work-location term can amount to constructive dismissal.
Constructive dismissal occurs when an employer makes a sufficiently serious change to an essential employment term without the employee’s agreement. Work location can be one of those terms.
Whether ending remote work crosses that threshold depends on the difference between the old and new arrangements, what the employer was contractually entitled to do and the practical impact on you.
What if you moved while working remotely?
Your employer’s knowledge and approval of the move matter.
If your employer expressly approved your relocation and understood that you would continue working remotely from the new location, requiring you to attend a distant office later can be a much more significant change.
If you moved far away without telling your employer or obtaining approval while the arrangement remained temporary, you should not assume the employer has accepted permanent remote work.
Can Remote Work Be a Human Rights Accommodation?
Yes. Remote or hybrid work can be an appropriate accommodation for a disability, family-status need or another characteristic protected by Ontario’s Human Rights Code. Employers must accommodate protected needs to the point of undue hardship.
For example, remote work can need to be considered when:
- A disability makes regular commuting or the physical workplace inaccessible
- Medical restrictions can be addressed by working from home
- A return-to-office rule creates a genuine family-status accommodation issue
- A temporary remote arrangement supports a gradual return after disability leave
Your employer must address the actual protected need, but you are not automatically entitled to your preferred solution. If another accommodation effectively meets your needs in a dignified way, the employer can choose that reasonable alternative.
Read our full guide to the duty to accommodate in Ontario.
Do you need medical documentation to work remotely?
If you are requesting remote work because of a disability, your employer can require reasonable medical information about the restrictions and accommodation needs.
That normally means information about your functional limitations, whether you can perform the essential duties and what accommodation is required. Your employer is not automatically entitled to your complete medical history or diagnosis.
What Employment Rights Apply When You Work From Home?
Working remotely does not remove the employment standards that otherwise apply to your job.
If Ontario’s ESA applies to you, working from home does not eliminate applicable rights involving wages, hours of work, overtime, eating periods, vacation, public holidays and termination.
Can your employer monitor you while you work remotely?
Yes. Ontario’s electronic-monitoring rules do not create a general right for employees to be free from employer monitoring.
Employers with 25 or more Ontario employees on January 1 must have a written electronic-monitoring policy in place by March 1. The policy must address whether employees are electronically monitored and, if so, how, when and for what purposes.
Remote employees should therefore understand the employer’s policies concerning activity monitoring, login records, company devices, productivity software and other workplace technology.
Do remote employees have a legal right to disconnect after work?
No. Ontario’s written-policy requirement does not itself create a general legal right to disconnect at a particular time.
Employers with 25 or more Ontario employees on January 1 must maintain a written disconnecting-from-work policy, but the substance of that policy depends on the employer. Existing ESA rules governing hours of work, rest periods and other applicable standards continue to operate separately.
Can You Be Fired Over a Remote Work Dispute?
Yes. A non-unionized employee can be terminated without cause over a remote-work dispute, but the employer must provide the termination compensation legally owed and can’t terminate for a prohibited discriminatory or retaliatory reason.
The more difficult question is whether an employer has just cause to provide no compensation. Do not assume that refusing a return-to-office instruction automatically amounts to cause. The employer’s right to make the change, your reasons for objecting, any accommodation issue and how you responded all matter.
If the employer decides to terminate you without cause, Ontario employment standards are only minimum rights. Many non-unionized employees have substantially greater common-law entitlements unless an enforceable contract limits them.
Depending on factors such as age, position, length of service and availability of comparable work, severance can reach 24 months’ pay in appropriate cases.
Read our guide to severance pay in Ontario.
Do remote workers count in an Ontario mass termination?
Yes. Ontario expanded its mass-termination rules in 2023 so employees who work exclusively from home can be included in the statutory establishment rules.
That can matter when 50 or more employees are terminated within the applicable period. See our guide to mass termination in Ontario.
What Should You Do If Your Employer Changes Your Remote Work Arrangement?
Get the new requirements in writing and review your employment terms before accepting the change, refusing it or resigning.
Take these steps:
- Ask for the return-to-office terms in writing. Confirm the required office days, location and start date.
- Review your contract. Look for language about remote work, work location and the employer’s ability to change it.
- Preserve your remote-work history. Keep offers, agreements, policies and emails approving the arrangement.
- Raise accommodation needs promptly. If disability or family status is involved, identify the protected need rather than treating the issue only as a preference for working from home.
- Object promptly if you do not agree. Continuing under a major new arrangement for too long without objection can make it harder to argue later that you rejected the change.
- Don’t simply stop attending work. An unsupported refusal can create discipline problems.
- Don’t resign before getting advice. If the change amounts to constructive dismissal, your response can affect your ability to claim severance.
Can you negotiate instead of refusing?
Yes. A negotiated hybrid or transition arrangement can often protect your employment without forcing an immediate all-or-nothing decision.
Possible solutions can include fewer office days, a gradual return, a different office location, adjusted hours or a formal accommodation process where a protected need exists.
What if your employer cuts your pay because you work remotely?
Remote work does not automatically give your employer the right to reduce your existing compensation.
A substantial unilateral pay cut can create a separate constructive dismissal issue. If your employer says continued remote work requires you to accept lower pay, review the proposed change before agreeing to it.
Do employers have to pay your home-office expenses?
Ontario’s ESA does not create a general requirement that employers reimburse every home-office expense simply because an employee works remotely.
Your employment contract, remote-work agreement or workplace expense policy can provide additional rights. Review those terms before purchasing equipment or agreeing to absorb substantial business expenses yourself.
Remote work is not automatically permanent simply because you have worked from home for several years. But an employer also can’t assume that every remote arrangement can be withdrawn without examining the employment contract, the history of the arrangement and any human rights obligations.
The Ontario employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP help non-unionized employees assess return-to-office mandates, remote-work contract terms, accommodation requests and constructive dismissal issues. If your employer is changing where you work, we can determine whether you should comply, object, negotiate an alternative or pursue termination compensation.
Before you refuse a return-to-office instruction, accept a major change to your working arrangement or resign and give up your job, contact Samfiru Tumarkin LLP and have the situation reviewed.