The ‘No Ghosting’ Rule Is Now Law in Ontario — What Employers Must Do

Published by: Can X Global Solutions Inc.

Ghosting Candidates Was Already Bad Practice. Now It’s Illegal.

Every recruiter and HR professional knows the frustration of candidate ghosting — a promising applicant who goes silent after three rounds of interviews. What’s less acknowledged is the mirror image of that dynamic: employers who interview candidates and never follow up.

According to research cited in Folks HR’s 2026 Recruitment Statistics report, 34% of Canadian job applicants wait more than 60 days to hear back from an employer after an interview. Only 7% receive any form of rejection notification. These numbers describe a systemic failure in candidate communication that has persisted for years in the Canadian labour market.

Ontario’s Working for Workers Four Act has now made it a legal requirement to do better. As of January 1, 2026, employers with 25 or more employees must inform any candidate who was interviewed whether a hiring decision has been made — and they must do so within 45 days of the candidate’s last interview.

What the Rule Requires — and What It Doesn’t

The requirement is specific. It applies to any candidate who participated in an interview for a publicly advertised position in Ontario. It does not apply to candidates who only received an initial phone screen, nor does it apply to roles that were not publicly advertised.

The communication itself doesn’t need to be elaborate. It must inform the candidate whether a hiring decision has been made. You are not required to provide detailed feedback, explain your decision, or rank candidates against one another. A straightforward written message — delivered in person, by email, or via a recruitment platform — satisfies the obligation.

Strict 45-Day Timeline

What you are required to do is make sure the message is sent within 45 days of the candidate’s last interview. Not 46 days. Not when someone remembers. Within 45.

Why This Matters Beyond Compliance

The business case for timely candidate communication predates the legislation. Candidates who are treated with respect during the hiring process — even when they aren’t selected — are more likely to apply again, refer others, and maintain a positive perception of your employer brand.

Candidate experience is employer brand. Every interaction a candidate has with your organization during the hiring process shapes how they talk about you in their professional network — long after the decision has been made.

Ontario’s new rule formalizes what best-practice recruitment has always held to be true: candidates invest time, energy, and emotional commitment in the hiring process, and they deserve to know the outcome.

The Operational Challenge for HR Teams

The challenge for HR teams isn’t necessarily the communication itself — it’s the tracking. When you’re managing multiple open roles, multiple interview stages, and multiple candidate pipelines simultaneously, keeping a clean record of who was interviewed when, and ensuring every one of them receives a timely outcome notification, requires a deliberate process.

Practical steps include:

Updating your ATS (applicant tracking system) to flag interviews and trigger 45-day reminders automatically.

Creating standardized candidate notification templates — one for ‘role has been filled,’ one for ‘search is ongoing’ — so the communication burden on hiring managers is minimal.

Training interviewers to log interview dates consistently, since the 45-day clock starts from the candidate’s last interview, not from the decision date.

Retaining copies of all communications for a minimum of three years, as required under the legislation’s record-keeping provisions.

Working With a Recruitment Partner Makes This Easier

One of the practical advantages of working with a recruitment firm is that candidate communication management is built into the service. At CAN X Global, we maintain communication with every candidate throughout the process, provide timely feedback, and ensure that every interaction reflects well on the employers we represent.

That means our employer partners never face the operational challenge of tracking candidate notifications across a high-volume hiring period — and they’re never at risk of non-compliance because a notification fell through the cracks.