What an Ontario job offer letter is for
An offer letter is usually the only written employment contract a small or mid-sized Ontario business has with its staff, so it does far more than say "welcome aboard". It sets the job, the pay and the hours, and it decides what happens if the employment ends. In Ontario it also has to work alongside the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), which sets minimums that no contract can go below, and since July 1, 2025 a regulation that requires employers with 25 or more employees to give new hires six specific items of information in writing before their first day.
This template is a complete offer of employment for Ontario. The first four sections deliver the six required items, so sending the signed letter meets the new rule. The probation and termination sections are drafted around the ESA and the Ontario cases that have voided employer-friendly clauses, with a choice between ESA-minimum termination and ESA plus an additional amount. It states plainly that there is no non-compete, protects the employee's right to report and complain, and ends with an employer checklist covering the six items, the documents due within 30 days and the onboarding steps.
When to use it
Use it for every new permanent or fixed-term employee in Ontario, full-time or part-time, from front-line staff to managers. Send it after the verbal offer and before the start date, giving the candidate enough time to read it and get advice, and have the acceptance signed before the first day of work.
It is not for independent contractors, unionized employees covered by a collective agreement, or federally regulated employers such as banks, airlines and telecommunications companies, which follow the Canada Labour Code. Executives and senior hires with equity, bonuses or relocation should have an agreement drafted by a lawyer. If you interviewed the candidate for a publicly advertised posting, remember that since January 1, 2026 the ESA also requires employers to tell interviewed applicants whether a hiring decision has been made, within the time set by regulation.
What's inside
The full list of sections and fields in this template, in the order they appear.
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Employer details
- Legal name
- Operating name
- Address
- Telephone
- Contact names
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Position, location and hours
- Job title
- Manager
- Full-time or part-time
- Start date
- Initial work location
- Initial anticipated hours
- Overtime or exemption
-
Pay and time off
- Starting wage or salary
- Commission
- Pay period and pay day
- Deductions
- Pay review
- Vacation weeks and pay
- Public holidays
- Benefits and waiting period
-
Probation and ending employment
- Three-month probation
- Resignation notice
- Termination without cause (ESA minimums or ESA plus)
- Termination for cause
- ESA minimums savings clause
- Return of property
-
Confidentiality and policies
- Confidentiality
- Protected reports and complaints
- No non-compete
- Workplace violence and harassment policies
- ESA poster
- Disconnecting from work and electronic monitoring policies
-
Conditions and acceptance
- Work authorization
- Reference or record checks
- No conflicting agreements
- SIN and TD1 forms
- Entire agreement
- Offer deadline
- Employee acceptance
-
New Employee Information Checklist
- Six required items
- 30-day documents
- Onboarding items
Preview pages
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Page 1 -
Page 2 -
Page 3
How to complete the letter
- Fill in the letterhead. Use the employer's legal name, any operating name, the address, telephone number and at least one contact name; these are two of the six required items.
- Describe the position. Enter the title, the manager, full-time or part-time, permanent or fixed-term, and the start date.
- Describe the work location and hours. A general description is enough, but it must be accurate, including hybrid or remote arrangements.
- Set the pay. State the starting wage or salary, any commission plan, the pay period and the pay day.
- Set vacation and benefits. Offer at least the ESA minimum vacation and state any benefit waiting period.
- Keep probation to three months. Do not lengthen it or describe it as "up to" a longer period.
- Choose the termination option. Keep Option A (ESA minimums) or Option B (ESA plus an additional amount), delete the other, and do not add words such as "at any time" or "sole discretion".
- Complete the conditions. List only job-related conditions, such as entitlement to work in Canada and reference checks.
- Send it before the first day. Give a deadline for acceptance, collect the signed copy, and work through the checklist during the first 30 days.
Example: a completed offer excerpt
A fictional Waterloo software company, Grand River Analytics Inc., with 40 employees, hires Priya Natarajan as a Customer Success Specialist:
Employer: Grand River Analytics Inc., 55 Erb Street West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 1T1, 519-555-0148. Contacts: Daniel Okafor, People Operations Manager. Where you will work: from your home in Ontario, with attendance at our Waterloo office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with a 30-minute unpaid meal break, 37.5 hours a week. Starting pay: $62,000 a year, paid every second Friday for the two-week pay period ending the Saturday before pay day. Vacation: three weeks a year, with vacation pay of at least 4 per cent of wages. Termination: Option B, ESA minimums plus one additional week of base pay per completed year of employment, up to 12 weeks.
Grand River emails the letter on March 2, Priya signs it on March 5 and starts on March 23. Because the company had 25 or more employees on January 1, it gives Priya its disconnecting from work and electronic monitoring policies and the ESA poster in the first week, and records each date on the checklist.
Ontario rules to know
These are the Ontario rules this letter is built around.
- Written information before the first day (Ontario Regulation 285/01, section 1.2). In force July 1, 2025 for employers with 25 or more employees; assignment employees of temporary help agencies are excluded.
- Termination notice (ESA sections 54 and 57). No notice is required in the first three months; after that, one week for less than a year of employment, two weeks from one to three years, then one week per year, up to eight weeks.
- Severance pay (ESA sections 64 and 65). One week per year of employment, up to 26 weeks, for employees with five or more years where the employer's payroll is $2.5 million or more or 50 or more employees are severed within six months.
- Wilful misconduct (Ontario Regulation 288/01). The standard an employee's conduct must meet before an employer can deny ESA notice and severance pay.
- Vacation (ESA sections 33 and 35.2). Two weeks and 4 per cent, rising to three weeks and 6 per cent after five years.
- Non-competes (ESA section 67.2). Void for employees, except listed executives and on the sale of a business.
- Overtime and deductions (ESA sections 22 and 13). Overtime after 44 hours a week; deductions only by statute, court order or written authorization.
- Policies and poster (ESA sections 2, 21.1.2 and 41.1.1). The ESA poster within 30 days for every employer; disconnecting from work and electronic monitoring policies within 30 days for employers with 25 or more employees.
Mistakes that cost Ontario employers
The most expensive mistake is a termination clause that fails: a single non-compliant sentence, such as a for-cause clause that goes further than the ESA allows or wording that lets the employer end employment "at any time", can void the whole clause and expose the employer to months of common law notice. Others are probation periods longer than three months, vacation below the ESA minimum, non-competes copied from an American template, having the employee sign on or after the first day, and forgetting the documents due within 30 days. Keeping this letter's termination wording intact and using the checklist avoids each of them.
Frequently asked questions
What information must an Ontario employer give a new employee before the first day?
Since July 1, 2025, Ontario Regulation 285/01, section 1.2, requires employers with 25 or more employees to give each new employee, in writing and before the first day of work if practicable, the employer's legal and operating names, its address, telephone number and contact names, a general description of where the employee will initially work, the starting wage or commission, the pay period and pay day, and a general description of the initial anticipated hours. This letter includes all six.
Is a probation period legal in Ontario?
Yes. The Employment Standards Act, 2000 requires no notice of termination for an employee employed for less than three months. A probation clause should be in the written offer signed before the employee starts, and it should not run longer than three months, because ESA notice is owed after that whatever the letter calls the period.
Can an Ontario employer make a new employee sign a non-compete?
No. Section 67.2 of the ESA prohibits non-compete agreements with employees and makes them void, with exceptions only for listed executive positions and for a seller of a business. Confidentiality terms are still allowed, and non-solicitation clauses are allowed but read strictly by the courts.
Does a job offer letter need a termination clause?
It is not required, but without one an Ontario court will imply reasonable notice at common law, often several months of pay. A clause can limit that to the ESA minimums or another amount, but only if every part of the termination provisions complies with the ESA; Ontario courts have voided whole clauses because of one non-compliant sentence.
Should the offer be signed before the employee starts work?
Yes. Ontario courts have refused to enforce new contract terms, such as a termination clause, that an employee signed after already starting work when the employee received nothing new in exchange. Send the offer early enough for the candidate to read it and get advice, and have it signed before the first day.
