What is the 25-employee threshold nobody talks about?

A business that employs 25 or more people for six months must register with the Office québécois de la langue française within the following six months (Charter of the French Language, s. 139). It is a firm deadline, and the obligation that businesses of this size most often overlook. At 100 or more people, a francization committee must also be established (s. 136).

Which compliance deadlines come back every year?

The prevention program or action plan must be updated annually (Regulation respecting prevention mechanisms, S-2.1, r. 8.3, s. 5). An employer who becomes subject to it has one year to develop and implement it (s. 4). The pay equity declaration is also annual, and the maintenance exercise comes back every five years.

Do I have to offer a retirement plan to my employees in Quebec?

A voluntary retirement savings plan, yes, from 10 eligible employees counted on December 31: you have the following year to subscribe with an authorized administrator and enrol those people (Voluntary Retirement Savings Plans Act, s. 45). An eligible employee is 18 or older with one year of continuous service. You are not required to contribute yourself, and the employee’s enrolment is automatic with a 60-day right to opt out. You are exempt if those people can already contribute to a registered pension plan or to an RRSP or TFSA by payroll deduction. The 5-to-9-eligible-employees tier is waiting for a date the government has not set (s. 140).

How do I know which of these obligations apply to my business?

The free triage on conformitepme.ca (in French) asks a few questions - employees, headcount, employees aged 18 or over with one year of service, hiring of minors, website, commercial emails - and says which obligations apply, which do not, and which apply to you without a tool from us. The sorting happens in the browser: no answer is transmitted.

GUIDE · QUEBEC

Compliance for a Quebec small business, threshold by threshold

Q: What does compliance mean for a small business in Quebec?

It is the set of obligations that Quebec law imposes on a business according to what it does and its size: protection of personal information (Law 25), French on the site and in the business (Charter of the French Language), prevention of psychological harassment (Labour Standards Act s. 81.19), occupational health and safety (OHSA), regulation of child labour and pay equity. Each one is proven by a dated document, not by an intention.

Q: From how many employees does a small business have obligations?

From the first employee. The psychological harassment prevention policy is mandatory from a single employee (Labour Standards Act s. 81.19), and every employer owes a prevention program or an occupational health and safety action plan: a program from 20 workers per establishment (OHSA s. 58), an action plan below that (s. 61.1). There is no threshold below which nothing is required.

Most guides explain what compliance is. This one tells you from when each obligation applies to you, and which date you have to meet. The thresholds come from Quebec law itself: each one is cited with its section, checked against the official text rather than a popularized summary.

Checked on LégisQuébec on 2026-08-09 · OHSA (S-2.1), Charter of the French Language (C-11), Labour Standards Act (N-1.1), Regulation respecting prevention mechanisms (S-2.1, r. 8.3)

What applies to you, and from when

The number of employees is not the only trigger: having a website or hiring a student creates others. The table reads in the order the thresholds arrive.

FROM	WHAT YOU MUST DO	LAW
1 employee	A written, distributed policy on the prevention and handling of psychological harassment. No threshold below this.	Labour Standards Act s. 81.19
1 employee	An occupational health and safety action plan, which identifies, among others, the work-related psychosocial risks.	OHSA ss. 61.1 and 61.2
1 website	A privacy policy, consent, and a person in charge of the protection of personal information.	Law 25 · P-39.1
1 website offered to the public	A French version no less favourable than the other languages.	Charter of the French Language
1 person under 14	Employment is prohibited except for regulatory exceptions, and requires the parent’s written consent on the CNESST form.	Labour Standards Act s. 84.2 et seq.
Up to age 16	Hour caps during the school year, never during class hours. Their particular risks go into your prevention mechanisms.	Labour Standards Act · OHSA s. 59 (1°)
10 employees	The Pay Equity Act applies. Below 50, determine the necessary pay adjustments, with no formal program.	Pay Equity Act, ss. 4 and 34
10 eligible employees on December 31	Subscribe to a voluntary retirement savings plan and enrol those people within the following year. You do not have to contribute.	VRSP Act s. 45
20 workers per establishment	A nine-element prevention program instead of the action plan, and a health and safety committee.	OHSA ss. 58 and 68
25 people for six months	Register with the Office québécois de la langue française within six months after that period.	Charter s. 139
50 employees	Establish a pay equity program for the whole business. The committee remains optional up to 100.	Pay Equity Act, s. 31
100 people	Establish a francization committee of at least six people, half of whom represent the workers.	Charter s. 136
100 employees	The pay equity program is accompanied by a pay equity committee.	Pay Equity Act, ss. 10 and 16

The 25 threshold is the one people forget. A business of thirty people has a firm deadline with the OQLF, and almost none knows it. It does not arrive with a letter: it has been running since the day the sixth month was reached.

Between 5 and 9 eligible employees, the retirement savings plan is still waiting for an order. The law provides for this tier but leaves it to the government to set the date, and the text as updated on April 1, 2026 still does not set it (s. 140, 3°). Below 10, nothing obliges you to subscribe - and no one will tell you so, since there is nothing to sell you.

The dates that come back

An obligation missed once can be made up. An annual obligation forgotten once is an obligation you no longer meet - and that is the one an inspector notes.

WHEN	WHAT	LAW
Every year	Update the prevention program or action plan. The starting date is that of your last update, not January 1.	S-2.1, r. 8.3, art. 5
Within 12 months	Develop and implement this program or plan, from the moment you become subject to it.	S-2.1, r. 8.3, art. 4
Within 6 months	Register with the OQLF after six consecutive months at 25 or more people.	Charter s. 139
Every year	File the pay equity declaration with your annual update to the enterprise register, if you declared 11 people or more there.	E-12.001, r. 1, art. 1
On December 31	Count your eligible employees for the VRSP: 18 or older, one year of continuous service. At 10 or more, you have the following year to subscribe.	VRSP Act s. 45
Every five years	Reassess pay equity maintenance and post the results.	Pay Equity Act, s. 76.1
At every event	Review outside the calendar: reorganization, move, incident, departure of a key position, new activity. The picture changes, the document must follow.	OHSA ss. 59 and 61.2

An obligation is not a document

This is the costliest misunderstanding. Adopting a policy is not enough: the law asks you to distribute it, train people, keep a record and review it. The day you are asked for proof, it is the distribution that is checked - not the file on your disk.

In practice: a harassment policy nobody has received is worth, in an inspection, about as much as a policy that does not exist. And every hire starts the cycle again.

Compliance with Quebec law, obligation by obligation

Every obligation in this guide has its tool: the free assessment first tells you whether it applies to you and where you stand, then the document is produced - dated, in your name, with the section of law that requires it. And to cover everything at once, the plans are a small business’s turnkey package: every tool, one payment.

Psychosocial risks · Harassment prevention · Child labour · Pay equity · Selective collection (EPR) · Environmental claims · Law 25 audit · Law 96 scan

The health and safety calendar on this page - prevention program, action plan, committee - comes from Law 27, the modernization of the regime, explained in plain language (in French).

Frequently asked questions

What does compliance mean for a small business in Quebec?

The set of obligations that Quebec law imposes according to what the business does and its size: protection of personal information, French, harassment prevention, health and safety, child labour, pay equity. Each one is proven by a dated document, not by an intention.

From how many employees does a small business have obligations?

From the first employee. The harassment prevention policy is mandatory from a single employee, and every employer owes a prevention program or an action plan. There is no threshold below which nothing is required: it is one or the other, for everyone.

Which deadlines come back every year?

Updating the prevention program or action plan is annual (S-2.1, r. 8.3, s. 5). The pay equity declaration is too, and the maintenance exercise comes back every five years.

How do I know which ones apply to me?

Our obligations map shows who is covered and what you need to have; the free triage (in French) asks a few questions and says which ones apply, which do not, and which apply to you without a tool from us. The sorting happens in your browser: no answer is transmitted.

What is a turnkey compliance package?

A single purchase that covers the obligations at once: you answer the questions, each document is produced - dated, in your name, with the section of law that requires it - and the upkeep follows the changes. That is what the plans do: every tool, one payment.

Every obligation we provide a tool for starts with a free assessment. The ready-to-file deliverable is paid for once.

Find out what applies to me →