2026 Employer Guide

The complete guide for HR managers to win in 2026

This guide is built for business leaders, owner-operators, and HR managers who need to navigate the workplace in 2026 with confidence. New legislation, shifting workplace norms, and closer legal scrutiny make a compliant, proactive workplace more important than ever.

Inside this guide, you'll find

What's new in 2026: the legislative changes, hiring rules, case law, and exit-process developments you need to act on now.
HR foundations: the core policies, contract clauses, and obligations that remain the bedrock of a sound workplace.

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Sunira Chaudhri, Founding Partner at Workly Law

Sunira Chaudhri · Founding Partner, Workly Law

Why this guide

A compliant, proactive workplace has never mattered more.

Workly Law built the 2026 Employer Guide to give business leaders, owner-operators, and HR managers the latest insights and practical tools for the year ahead. With Bill 190 in force, doubled ESA fines, new mandatory policies, and courts enforcing the rules more strictly than ever, it walks through exactly what’s changed and what to do about it — workplace policies, employment contracts, accommodations and medical leave, return-to-office, harassment, and exits — each closing with a practical “Lawyer’s Take” from Sunira Chaudhri.

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What's Inside

What's Inside the Guide

Six practical sections — from the 2026 legislative changes to the HR foundations every workplace relies on — each closing with a “Lawyer's Take” from Sunira Chaudhri.

01.

Workplace Policies

The mandatory policies (disconnect-from-work, pay equity, AODA), the must-haves, and the three to add now — harassment prevention, electronic monitoring, and AI use — plus a complete policy checklist.

02.

Employment Contracts

The clauses that protect you — clarifying remote vs. hybrid work, confidentiality, ESA-compliant termination terms (post-Waksdale), and clear bonus and compensation language.

03.

Accommodations & Medical Leave

Your duty to accommodate, protected grounds, the limits of undue hardship, what you can (and can't) ask for — no diagnosis — and every job-protected leave under the ESA.

04.

Return to Office

When you can require a return to office, when employees can lawfully refuse, and how to roll out an RTO mandate without triggering constructive-dismissal or human-rights claims.

05.

Workplace Harassment

Bill 190 and the OHSA updates for hybrid and remote teams — updated complaint procedures, telework and virtual-JHSC obligations, and how to run a fair, defensible investigation.

06.

Exits

The 2026 exit risks — bad-faith damages, the rules for paying ESA minimums promptly, and the termination “don'ts” — plus how to handle terminations and resignations with care.

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