On October 1, 2026, Ontario’s minimum wage is increasing to $17.95 per hour. The minimum wage across the province sits now at $17.60 per hour. This increase is linked to Ontario’s Consumer Price Index at 1.9 per cent as is required by Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”).

The Ontario government has indicated in a press release that this increase will affect approximately 700,000 employees with most of those employees working in retail and food service industries. An employee earning the general minimum wage and working 40 hours per week will see an annual pay increase of approximately $728.

What is minimum wage?

Minimum wage is the minimum amount of wages per hour that must be paid to an employee. It is an employment standard that employers must abide by under the ESA.

Here are some quick facts about minimum wage in Ontario:

• Most employees are owed minimum wage as set out in the ESA and it does not matter if the employee works part-time, are casual employees, or are paid an hourly rate, commission, piece rate, flat rate or salary.
• There are certain jobs that are exempt from the minimum wage requirement, and those jobs are set out in the ESA.
• There are specialized minimum wage rates under the ESA which have different minimum wage rates for certain jobs for students, hunting, fishing or wilderness guides and homeworkers.
• There are also industry-specific and job-specific exemptions to minimum wage under the ESA and special rules may apply to some salespeople who earn commissions.
• Employers can consider providing an employee with room and board (meals) as wages. Room and board will only be deemed to have been paid as wages if the employee has received the meals and occupied the room.
• There is a “three-hour rule” which means that if an employee is required to report to work but works for less than three hours, they must be paid whatever is higher (so either three hours at regular wages or the amount the employee earned for the time they worked).
• Minimum wages are not static and are subject to change based on annual indexation based on the rate of inflation. If that rate is changed, the new rate will be published on or before April 1 and will come into effect on October 1 in Ontario.
• Minimum wages under the ESA apply only to employees who are provincial employees. If an employee works in a federally-regulated industry, those employees are subject to minimum wages set in the government of Canada’s Canada Labour Code,1990.

What are some common issues related to an increase in minimum wage?

1. The employer may fail to increase wages to meet in the increase in minimum wage.

It is unlawful for an employer to fail to increase wages to meet the minimum wage requirement as set out in Ontario’s ESA. There are two main options for an employee who has not been paid minimum wages that they were owed by there employer.

The first option is that the employee could proceed to file a claim with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour. There is 2-year time limit to file a claim. Once a claim is filed, the Ministry of Labour will investigate the matter and provide a written order if necessary.

The second option would be for the employee file a claim via a lawsuit in court.

2. The employer may fail to properly account for minimum wage when the employee is on salary, commission or misclassified as exempt from minimum wage.

Similarly to the above, these actions on the part of the employer may be unlawful under Ontario’s ESA. The employee could proceed to file a claim with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour or move to sue their employer in court for those lost wages.

3. The employer may reduce hours or change an employee’s role to compensate for the increase in minimum wage.

These actions may amount to constructive dismissal. In Ontario, constructive dismissal occurs when the employee’s fundamental terms of employment are changed unilaterally by the employer and when these changes are not insignificant. A change in an employee’s job duties or responsibilities or a decrease in workload or hours has amounted to constructive dismissal in many cases.

An employee needs an employment lawyer to help them to maximize their claim for constructive dismissal. Once a claim for constructive dismissal has been made then the employee may be able to claim common law and statutory damages or termination or severance pay. Depending on the circumstances, the employee could also be entitled to moral, punitive and general damages.

We have lots of information about constructive dismissal in our blogs. For example:

• Can My Employer Make Changes to My Job Without My Consent?
• What Is Constructive Dismissal? A Guide for Employees

4. The employer may retaliate or even move to dismiss an employee who brings up issues related to minimum wage or a minimum wage increase.

These types of actions by the employer against an employee may be considered to be a reprisal. A reprisal in employment law in Ontario occurs when the employer intimidates, threatens and/or terminates or penalizes their employee because the employee asserted or attempted to assert their rights under Ontario’s ESA.

Any employee who believes that they may have been subjected to a reprisal by their employer should approach an employment lawyer to review their own specific case to ensure that their employment rights are protected. You can read more about reprisal by reading our blog entitled What is a reprisal?.

How can Zeilikman Law help?

Approaching an employment lawyer can be very helpful to both employers and employees when they have questions related to the topic of minimum wage. Employment lawyers like the ones at Zeilikman Law can assist both employers and employees by reviewing the facts surrounding this issue and help them determine what the next best steps are to take.

Employers and employees can contact our office at (905) 417-2227 or online here to schedule their own confidential consultation with Zeilikman Law.