Is ghosting candidates illegal? Ontario's 45-day rule, compared with France, the UK and the US

Since 1 January 2026, many Ontario employers must tell interviewed candidates within 45 days whether a decision was made. Who is covered, how to count, and the rules elsewhere.

You had the interview. They said you would hear back soon. Six weeks later, nothing. In France, the UK and the US, that silence is legal as far as we could find. In Ontario, since 1 January 2026, it often is not: an employer with 25 or more employees who interviewed you for a publicly advertised job has 45 days to tell you whether a hiring decision has been made.

The headlines say "ghosting candidates is now illegal". That is only true for one case, and the rule asks for less than most people think. This guide quotes the text, shows who it covers, counts the 45 days on real dates, and compares it with France, the UK and the US. It is a summary of public sources, checked on 28 September 2026, not legal advice.

Each row has its own section below, with links.

What Ontario's rule actually says

The duty sits in section 8.6 of Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). It was added by the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190, S.O. 2024, c. 19, royal assent 28 October 2024) and came into force on 1 January 2026. The section itself is one sentence:

"If an employer interviews an applicant for a publicly advertised job posting, the employer shall, within the prescribed time period, provide the applicant with the prescribed information."

The details are in a regulation, O. Reg. 476/24, section 5. The time period is "within 45 days after the date of the interview or, if the employer interviews the applicant more than once for the publicly advertised job posting, within 45 days after the date of the last interview". The information is exactly one item: "Whether a hiring decision has been made in respect of the publicly advertised job posting." It can be given "in person, in writing or using technology".

We read the ESA on e-Laws in the consolidation that starts 1 January 2026 (e-Laws currency date 23 September 2026), and O. Reg. 476/24, which shows no amendments. The ministry's plain-language ESA guide page on job postings (published 4 February 2026, updated 24 February 2026) adds the interpretations quoted below.

What the rule does not give you

Read the one required item again. The employer must say whether a decision has been made. Nothing in the text asks for:

• reasons, or feedback on your interview;
• the name of the person hired;
• a final answer. Our reading of the text is that "no decision has been made yet" meets the duty, as long as it arrives within the 45 days. The ministry's guide does not say otherwise, but it does not give that example either.

The guide also says a portal update can count. An employer "may post a status update to their website, job application portal, or other online database, so long as the applicant is provided with a link". A status that changes quietly in a portal you never check is not enough. The link has to reach you.

A text message counts too. The guide lists "telephone calls, videoconference, email and text message".

Are you covered? Check these six things

The rule applies only if all of these are true. The first three come from O. Reg. 476/24. The rest are spelled out in the ministry's guide.

1. The employer had 25 or more employees on the day the job was posted. The guide counts people, not full-time equivalents: "Part-time employees and casual employees each count as 1 employee." It adds up every Ontario location, so three shops of 12 people each are one employer with 36 employees.
2. The job was publicly advertised. The regulation defines it as "an external job posting that an employer or a person acting on behalf of an employer advertises to the general public in any manner". It excludes a "we are hiring" campaign or sign with no specific position, a posting open only to existing employees, and a job whose work is done outside Ontario.
3. You had an interview, not a screening call. The regulation's definition excludes "preliminary screening before the selection of applicants for such a meeting". The guide's test is the purpose of the call. A call to check that you meet the minimum qualifications, or to clarify your application, is screening. A meeting that assesses your suitability after that point is an interview. Video and phone interviews count.
4. The interview took place on or after 1 January 2026. The guide says this part applies "even if the publicly advertised job posting was posted before January 1, 2026".
5. The employer is not the Crown. The guide says the job posting rules do not apply to the Crown, Crown agencies, or boards and commissions whose members are all appointed by the Crown.
6. It does not matter who ran the interview. If a recruiting firm interviewed you for the employer, the guide says "the employer has the responsibility for ensuring that this is done as required".

If you only applied and never got an interview, the rule does not cover you. Silence after an application is still legal in Ontario.

How to count your 45 days

The regulation says "within 45 days after the date of the interview". Ontario's Legislation Act, 2006 sets how any Ontario statute or regulation counts time. A period described as starting after a specified day excludes that day (s. 89(5)). So the day after your interview is day 1, and the days are calendar days, weekends included.

The same Act extends a time limit that "would otherwise expire on a holiday" to the next day that is not a holiday (s. 89(1)). Sunday counts as a holiday there, along with days like Christmas and New Year's Day (s. 88). Saturday does not. The ministry's guide does not discuss this, so treat a deadline that lands on a Sunday or holiday as moving to the next day that is not one.

The guide also covers repeat interviews. "Where the interviews are fewer than 45 days apart, the employer is only required to inform the applicant once (that is, within 45 days after the date of the last interview). Where the interviews are more than 45 days apart, the employer must inform the applicant within 45 days after each interview."

Two worked examples:

In the second case, a message in December ("no decision yet") covers the first interview. The second interview starts a new 45 days.

Day 46: what to do if you heard nothing

Check first. Look in your spam folder, your texts, and the candidate portal if they ever sent you a link to it. Then write to the recruiter or the person who interviewed you. Keep it short and factual. You want an answer, not a fight.

If that gets no answer either, the ministry asks people to report possible breaches of the job posting rules to PubliclyAdvertisedJP@ontario.ca. The guide lists three things to include:

• the employer's name and contact information;
• the physical address of the business;
• a link to, or a copy of, the job posting.

The third item is the one people lose. Postings come down, often soon after the interviews start, so save the ad the day you apply. Our article on what happens when a job posting is taken down explains how. Keep the interview invitation too, since it proves the date.

What the employer risks

Less than the "$100,000 fine" headlines suggest, at least at first. The guide lists compliance orders, notices of contravention with a monetary penalty, and prosecution. The large numbers apply only after a conviction in a prosecution: up to $100,000 for a corporation's first conviction, $250,000 for a second and $500,000 for a third or later. An individual can be fined up to $100,000, jailed for up to 12 months, or both.

There is also a paper trail. The employer must keep a copy of the information it gave you for three years (ESA s. 15(7.1.1)), and a copy of the posting for three years after it comes down (s. 15(7.1)).

Is ghosting candidates illegal outside Ontario?

In the three other places we checked, we found no rule like Ontario's. Here is what the official sources do say.

France: no duty to reply

The recruitment section of the Code du travail, articles L1221-6 to L1221-9 (read on Légifrance on 28 September 2026), sets what an employer may ask and how it may assess you. Article L1221-8, in force since 1 May 2008, says the candidate is "expressément informé, préalablement à leur mise en oeuvre, des méthodes et techniques d'aide au recrutement utilisées à son égard". None of the four articles requires a reply to a candidate. The government's guide sums up the starting point: "L'employeur est libre de retenir le candidat de son choix" (service-public.fr, F1684, checked 20 February 2026). The same page adds that test results are confidential and "communiqués au candidat, s'il le demande".

What a French candidate does have is data protection. The CNIL's recruitment guide (fiche 7) says a candidate can ask for the data the recruiter used "pour prendre une décision le concernant", such as evaluations and test results, and the organisation must answer within one month. The CNIL also gives an example of keeping unsuccessful applications "par exemple 3 mois" so the employer can explain a rejection (fiche 9). That is an example of a retention period, not a duty to explain. Readers in France can find the reply template in our French article on how to answer a rejection.

United Kingdom: reasons are optional, your data is not

We found no UK statute that requires an employer to tell a candidate the outcome. Acas, the public body that advises on employment law, says "Employers do not have to explain their reasons for rejecting job applications", and if you ask for feedback, "They do not have to give you this information" (Acas, updated 7 November 2025).

As in France, the lever is your data. The Information Commissioner's Office tells employers that "the candidate can make a SAR for any additional information you record in the interview (eg interview notes)" (ICO). A subject access request (SAR) normally gets a reply within one month. The ICO marks this guidance as under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act.

United States: no federal rule, one narrow notice

We know of no federal law that requires a private employer to tell an interviewed candidate the outcome. The one federal notice we found applies only when a background check is involved. If an employer rejects you based on a consumer report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a notice before the decision, with a copy of the report, and another after it (FTC guidance for employers). State bills on candidate ghosting have been reported in the press. We have not verified any of them, so check your state's labor department before relying on one.

Keep your own 45-day clock

The employer keeps records for three years. Most candidates keep none, and on day 46 they cannot say when the last interview was. Write down each interview date the day it happens, along with who interviewed you, and save the posting.

The HiredFolio job application tracker has no interview-date field or built-in 45-day countdown, but you can set one up yourself. Move the job to Interviewing, put the interview date in the job's notes, and set its follow-up date to day 46. On that morning, you get one email listing the follow-ups due that day, and the dashboard shows it as due. If they answer before then, move the job on and the reminder no longer matters. If they do not, the message above is ready. For the follow-ups that come before day 46, see our follow-up email templates and what recruiters mean by "we'll be in touch".

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