Ontario law and employer duties

Ontario employer mental health obligations: what the law requires and what is voluntary

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Ontario has no single “workplace mental health” law. An Ontario employer’s mental health obligations come from the general duty in the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), its workplace violence and harassment rules, the Human Rights Code and the workplace insurance system. This guide sets out what each one requires, what is voluntary, and where to start.

Ontario employer mental health obligations: the short answer

  • Required: take every reasonable precaution to protect workers; have workplace violence and workplace harassment policies, reviewed at least once a year; and keep a violence program and a written harassment program, the latter reviewed at least once a year.
  • Required: assess the risk of workplace violence, investigate harassment incidents and complaints, and give every worker information and instruction on the violence and harassment policies and programs.
  • Required since October 28, 2024: treat harassment done virtually, through information and communications technology, as workplace harassment.
  • Required under human rights law: do not discriminate based on a mental health disability, and accommodate disability-related needs unless that would cause undue hardship.
  • Not required: a stand-alone mental health course or certificate, a separate psychological health and safety system, or conformance with the national standard (CSA Z1003), which is voluntary.

This guide covers the Ontario rules. If your organization is federally regulated, start with our guides to federal harassment and violence prevention training and the federal workplace harassment and violence assessment. If you employ people in other provinces, see our guides to Quebec’s Bill 27 and psychosocial risks and BC’s psychosocial hazard rules.

The general duty to protect workers

Section 25 of the OHSA lists an employer’s duties. Clause 25(2)(h) is the broadest: an employer shall “take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.” Clause 25(2)(a) adds a duty to “provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health or safety of the worker.”

Supervisors carry matching duties: under subsection 27(2), they must advise workers of any danger they know about and take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances.

Clause 25(2)(j) requires a written occupational health and safety policy, reviewed at least annually, and a program to put it into practice. Unless otherwise prescribed, that clause does not apply to a workplace with five or fewer regularly employed workers (subsection 25(4)).

The Act does not use the words “psychological” or “stress,” and it never names mental health as a hazard. Nor does it say what a reasonable precaution looks like for mental health. Still, the Ontario government’s page on mental health in the workplace says psychological injuries, for example post-traumatic stress disorder, “may be work-related.” A sensible approach is to handle psychosocial hazards the way you handle any other hazard: recognize, assess and control them, then evaluate the controls, the same steps O. Reg. 297/13 requires supervisor awareness training to cover.

What counts as workplace harassment

The OHSA defines workplace harassment as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace, including virtually through the use of information and communications technology, that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome,” or workplace sexual harassment. The ministry’s guide, Understand the law on workplace violence and harassment, says the definition “also includes what is often called psychological harassment or personal harassment.” The conduct typically happens more than once, although the guide notes there may be situations where it happens only once.

The technology wording is recent. The Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190, S.O. 2024, c. 19) received Royal Assent on October 28, 2024. Schedule 4 added that wording to both “workplace harassment” and “workplace sexual harassment,” with effect from Royal Assent. The same schedule made the OHSA apply to telework in a private residence. See our guide to Bill 190 and virtual harassment.

There is one important limit. Subsection 1(4) says “a reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the workplace is not workplace harassment.” The ministry’s guide gives examples: changes in work assignments, scheduling, job assessment and evaluation, workplace inspections, health and safety measures and disciplinary action. It adds that if these actions are not exercised reasonably and fairly, they may be harassment.

Written policies (section 32.0.1)

Every employer must prepare a workplace violence policy and a workplace harassment policy and review them as often as necessary, but at least annually. The policies must be in writing and posted in a conspicuous place or in a readily accessible electronic format. Under subsection 1(5), electronic posting counts only if the employer tells workers where and how to find the policies and workers can readily access them in the workplace.

Where five or fewer workers are regularly employed, the policies need not be written and posted unless an inspector orders it (subsection 32.0.1(3) and section 55.1).

The harassment program and investigations

The harassment program must be written and developed in consultation with the joint health and safety committee (JHSC) or health and safety representative, if there is one (section 32.0.6). It must include:

  • ways for workers to report harassment, including to someone other than the employer or supervisor if that person is the alleged harasser;
  • how incidents and complaints will be investigated and dealt with;
  • how information, including identifying information, will be kept confidential unless disclosure is needed to investigate or take corrective action, or is required by law;
  • how the worker and the alleged harasser (if a worker) will be told the results of the investigation and any corrective action.

Under section 32.0.7, the employer must ensure an investigation appropriate in the circumstances into incidents and complaints, tell the worker and the alleged harasser (if a worker) the results and any corrective action in writing, and review the program as often as necessary, but at least annually. The code of practice adds that this applies whether a complaint is made formally or informally, or the employer is otherwise aware of an incident. An inspector can also order an employer to have an investigation done by an impartial person, at the employer’s expense, with a written report (section 55.3). Our guide to Ontario workplace harassment policy and program requirements walks through each element.

The harassment code of practice

The Minister has approved a Code of Practice to Address Workplace Harassment under Part III.1 of the OHSA. The code describes itself as one way to meet the harassment requirements; an employer who follows one of its four parts must follow all of that part. Among its practices: an investigation completed within 90 calendar days unless there are extenuating circumstances, results given in writing within 10 calendar days of the investigation ending, and records kept for at least one year. See our explainer on Ontario’s harassment code of practice.

Note. Under section 32.4 of the OHSA, following an approved code of practice is deemed to be compliance with the legal requirement it covers, subject to the terms of the approval. Not following it is not, in itself, a breach of that requirement.

Workplace violence: program and risk assessment

The OHSA defines workplace violence in terms of physical force, attempted force or threats of force that could cause physical injury. The Ontario mental health page also notes that workplace violence and harassment may result in psychological injury, and points employers to these rules.

The violence program must include measures to control the risks found in the assessment, to summon immediate help, and for workers to report incidents. It must also say how the employer will investigate and deal with incidents or complaints (section 32.0.2).

Under section 32.0.3, employers must assess the risks of violence that may arise from the nature of the workplace, the type of work or the conditions of work. The results go to the JHSC or health and safety representative, or to workers if there is neither, and the employer must reassess as often as needed to keep the policy and program protecting workers. See our guide to workplace violence risk assessment in Ontario.

Three more rules matter here:

  • Domestic violence. If an employer knows, or ought reasonably to know, that domestic violence likely to expose a worker to physical injury may occur in the workplace, it must take every reasonable precaution to protect the worker (section 32.0.4).
  • A person with a history of violent behaviour. Employers and supervisors must tell workers who can be expected to meet such a person about a risk likely to cause physical injury, disclosing no more personal information than is reasonably necessary (subsections 32.0.5(3) and (4)).
  • Notices and refusals. If a person is disabled from their usual work or needs medical attention because of an incident of workplace violence, the employer must give written notice within four days to the JHSC, health and safety representative and union, if any (subsection 52(1)). Workers can refuse work over workplace violence, with some exceptions, but not over harassment, the ministry’s guide says.

Information, instruction and training

Every worker must receive information and instruction appropriate for them on the contents of the violence policy and program (clause 32.0.5(2)(a)) and of the harassment policy and program (section 32.0.8). This is the closest the OHSA comes to a mental-health-related training duty, and it covers the policies, not mental health skills.

The code of practice fills in the harassment side. All workers, including new, contract, casual, temporary, part-time and student workers, are taught what harassment is, how to report it, and how complaints are investigated and results shared. Supervisors and managers get extra instruction on recognizing harassment and handling complaints, and investigators and JHSC members get instruction for their roles.

Separately, O. Reg. 297/13 requires basic awareness training: for workers as soon as practicable, and for supervisors within one week of starting work as a supervisor. Both programs cover rights, duties and the roles of committees, the ministry and the WSIB; the supervisor program adds recognizing, assessing and controlling hazards. Mental health is not on either list. Our answer to whether mental health training is mandatory in Ontario goes into the detail.

The role of your JHSC or representative

A JHSC is required at a workplace where 20 or more workers are regularly employed, among other cases (subsection 9(2)). Where no committee is required and more than five workers are regularly employed, workers select at least one health and safety representative (subsection 8(1)). Employers must give the committee or representative assistance and co-operation in carrying out their functions (clause 25(2)(e)).

On violence and harassment, the committee or representative must be consulted on the written harassment program, told the results of the violence risk assessment, and given written notice when a violence incident disables someone from their usual work or needs medical attention. It is the natural place to raise psychosocial hazards too. See our page for joint health and safety committees for how the course supports their work.

Enforcement and inspections

According to the ministry’s guide, health and safety inspectors carry out proactive and reactive inspections, issue orders where they find a contravention, and can start prosecutions. They may check the violence and harassment rules during a general inspection or a complaint.

The guide is also clear about limits. Inspectors do not mediate individual harassment allegations, do not decide whether someone’s behaviour was harassment, and cannot order compensation for the person harassed. A corporation convicted of an offence under the Act faces a maximum fine of $2,000,000 (subsection 66(2)). Since November 27, 2025, inspectors can also issue administrative penalties, with amounts set by regulation (section 69.1). Our guide to what a Ministry of Labour inspector asks about harassment and violence explains how to prepare.

Human rights and the duty to accommodate

The OHSA is not the only law in play. Under the Human Rights Code, every person has a right to equal treatment in employment without discrimination or harassment based on disability, and disability includes mental health disabilities and addictions.

Employers also have a duty to accommodate a worker’s disability-related needs unless doing so would cause undue hardship, based on significant costs or health and safety factors. Our guide to the duty to accommodate mental health in Ontario covers what the process looks like in practice.

Employment standards: sick days and disconnecting from work

Two rules in the Employment Standards Act, 2000 also matter. After two consecutive weeks of employment, an employee is entitled to three days of unpaid leave a year for personal illness, injury or medical emergency, and since October 28, 2024, an employer “shall not require” a certificate from a qualified health practitioner as evidence (section 50). An employer with 25 or more employees on January 1 must have a written policy on disconnecting from work before March 1 of that year (section 21.1.2).

Workplace insurance and mental stress

A worker may be entitled to compensation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act for chronic or traumatic work-related mental stress. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) administers it. For some workers, the WSIB may presume that a diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder is work-related unless shown otherwise. The Ontario page names provincially regulated first responders, such as paramedics, police and firefighters, nurses who provide direct patient care, and specified workers in correctional institutions among them.

See our guides to WSIB chronic mental stress for employers and to WSIB traumatic mental stress and the PTSD presumption.

What Ontario law does not require

  • No general mental health training requirement. We found no section of the OHSA or O. Reg. 297/13 that requires a mental health course or certificate for workers or supervisors.
  • No separate mental health program. Beyond the general, violence and harassment policies and programs, the OHSA does not require a stand-alone psychological health and safety management system.
  • CSA Z1003 is voluntary. The Mental Health Commission of Canada describes the National Standard of Canada for psychological health and safety as “a set of voluntary guidelines and practical resources.” The Commission says a second edition, CSA/ASC Z1003:26, is coming soon. Our page on CSA Z1003 and its 13 workplace factors explains how the standard is organized.

Putting it together: a practical plan

The legal floor does not, on its own, help a supervisor who notices a worker struggling. These steps build on it.

  1. Check the legal basics. Current violence and harassment policies that use the post-Bill 190 definition, a written harassment program, a violence risk assessment shared with the committee, annual reviews, and instruction for every worker, including new, casual and part-time staff (the code of practice suggests keeping a record of it for at least a year).
  2. Test reporting and investigation. Check that remote staff can report, that there is a route around a supervisor who is the alleged harasser, and who investigates.
  3. Treat psychosocial hazards as hazards. Add workload, conflict, violence from the public and critical incidents to inspections and your hazard register.
  4. Train people to respond, not just to read the policy. Supervisors and HR need practice opening a hard conversation and knowing when to refer. Our Champion stream for supervisors, HR and program leads is built for that role.
  5. Plan for critical events. Decide who does what after a serious incident, and rehearse it.
  6. Post crisis contacts. Make sure everyone knows 9-8-8 (call or text) for a suicide crisis and 9-1-1 for an emergency.
  7. Review once a year. The policies and harassment program already need an annual review; use the same cycle for your wider plan.

Where Bedrock Minds fits

Bedrock Minds is a blended psychological health and safety course from Life Safe: self-paced online modules, then one in-person practical day of scored scenarios, including a crisis. Champions finish with a written 90-day plan for their own organization. The course is mapped to every normative clause of CAN/CSA-Z1003-13/BNQ 9700-803, a voluntary standard. It builds the skills that support your program. The course is voluntary and is not a substitute for the instruction the OHSA requires. It is not endorsed by any regulator, and its certificate does not certify your organization’s conformance with any standard.

Give your people a plan they have practised

Bedrock Minds combines online modules with one practical day where staff and leaders rehearse the conversations this article describes. Tell us about your team and we reply within one business day.

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Guides on this topic

All guides on Ontario law and employer duties

This article is general information, not legal advice.

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