Disconnecting from Work Policy

Purpose

Time away from work matters, for your health and for the quality of your work. Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) requires employers with 25 or more employees to have a written policy on disconnecting from work, which the ESA defines as not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls or sending or reviewing other messages, so as to be free from the performance of work. NEO adopts this policy voluntarily, as good practice.

Who it applies to

• Employees of NEO.
• Students on placement aren't expected to work or reply to messages outside their placement hours.
• Contractors manage their own time under their agreements, but everyone at NEO follows the guidance below on sending messages.

Our commitment

1. Outside your scheduled hours, you're not expected to read, answer or act on work emails, calls, texts, portal messages or video calls. That includes evenings, weekends, days off, vacation, leave and public holidays. Your scheduled hours are the ones in your work schedule in the staff portal.
2. No penalty. You will never be penalized, or marked down in a performance review, for not responding outside your scheduled hours.
3. Notifications off. You may turn off work notifications on your phone and computer, such as staff portal alerts and the phone app, outside your scheduled hours.
4. When you're away for a day or more, set an out-of-office email reply and voicemail greeting that says when you'll be back and how to reach the office.

Urgent client matters

• Client deadlines and emergencies are a licensee's responsibility. Outside office hours, urgent client matters are for the principal or another licensed paralegal to deal with, under our Urgent Matters Policy, not office staff.
• Office staff aren't normally placed on call. Any on-call arrangement would be agreed with you in writing in advance, and any work you do while on call is recorded and paid.
• In a real emergency, such as an office closure, a safety concern, or a security problem with your account, the principal may phone you. Please answer if you can, but you're not required to work.
• If you agree to work outside your schedule, it should be arranged with the principal in advance wherever possible.

If you do work outside your hours

• It counts as work. Under the ESA, work you do outside your shift, such as reading, drafting or answering work emails, is generally working time. Record it on the punch clock, and it is paid, including any overtime the ESA requires. See our Payroll and Pay Days Policy.
• Don't work outside your schedule without the principal's approval, except to report a lost device or a suspected security problem straight away, as our Acceptable Use of Technology Policy requires. Record that time too.
• Rest periods. NEO's schedules respect the ESA's rest rules: generally at least 11 hours in a row free from work each day, at least eight hours between shifts, and at least 24 hours in a row off each work week (or 48 hours in a row in every two weeks).

Sending messages to others

1. Everyone at NEO, including the principal and licensees, avoids sending non-urgent work messages to staff outside their scheduled hours. Use your email's scheduled-send feature, or save the message and send it at the start of the next working day.
2. A message that arrives outside your hours can wait until your next scheduled shift, unless it is a phone call about a real emergency, as described above.
3. Messages to clients that office staff write are held for the principal's approval before they are sent, so there is no need to send them after hours. Clients know we reply within two business days, as our Client Service Standards Policy explains, and that urgent matters should be phoned in.
4. Meetings are scheduled within the working hours of the people invited, unless they agree otherwise.

What this policy is not

This policy doesn't take away any right you have under the ESA, including the rules on hours of work, rest periods, overtime, vacation and public holidays, and your employment agreement may give you more. It sits alongside our Workplace Health & Safety and WSIB Policy, our Hours of Work, Overtime and Attendance Policy and our Remote and Hybrid Work Policy for Staff.

Giving you a copy

• Each employee receives a copy within 30 days of starting work, and within 30 days of any change, in the staff portal and as an email attachment you can print. You can ask for a paper copy at any time.
• NEO keeps a copy of each version for at least three years after it stops being in effect.

Policy dates

• Prepared: October 24, 2026.
• Changes: none yet. Each future change will be listed here with its date.

Review

This policy is reviewed at least once a year, and whenever the law changes. The principal approves every change.

Questions

Ask the principal, or email info@neolegalservices.com, call 647-200-3526 or toll-free 888-519-2435, or write to us at Unit 236, 1099 Kingston Road, Pickering, Ontario L1V 1B5.