{"id":5812,"date":"2026-06-10T14:44:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/?p=5812"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:44:47","slug":"oqlf-are-you-compliant-as-an-employer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/oqlf-are-you-compliant-as-an-employer\/","title":{"rendered":"OQLF &#8211; Are you compliant as an employer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the adoption of Bill 96 in 2022, which reinforces the Charter of the French Language, Quebec employers&#8217; obligations to the Office qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois de la langue fran\u00e7aise (OQLF) have increased considerably. More than just a linguistic issue, this is now a genuine human resources compliance and risk management issue for employers. <\/p>\n<p>Employers must ensure that their practices, documents and processes fully comply with these requirements, or face significant penalties.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>French at the heart of the employment relationship<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Act confirms the right of workers to carry out their activities in French. In concrete terms, employers must use French in all written communications with employees, including : <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>internal policies and employee manuals ;<\/li>\n<li>internal newsletters and general communications ;<\/li>\n<li>disciplinary and administrative notices ;<\/li>\n<li>communications with trade unions or workers&#8217; associations;<\/li>\n<li>training documents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The use of a language other than French is only permitted if the employee expressly requests it, on an individual basis. French must remain the norm in the work environment. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Contracts and documents: in French please<\/strong><strong> !<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The law imposes strict rules on the language of contractual documents:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Employment contracts must be drawn up in French, subject to certain clearly defined exceptions.<\/li>\n<li>Membership contracts and related documents must be submitted in French before being signed in any other language.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Failure to comply with these obligations may result in nullity of the contract, without proof of prejudice being required.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Job offers: compulsory justification of language requirements<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Requiring knowledge of a language other than French to enter or remain in a job is not forbidden, but it must be rigorously justified. In particular, the employer must: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>demonstrate the existence of a real linguistic need linked to the job&#8217;s duties;<\/li>\n<li>ensure that existing in-house language skills are insufficient;<\/li>\n<li>limit this requirement to what is strictly necessary;<\/li>\n<li>clearly state the reasons for this requirement in the job offer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This analysis is now essential, particularly in the context of recruitment, promotion or transfer. It is therefore no longer acceptable, for example, to simply state &#8220;Knowledge of English (an asset)&#8221;. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Zero tolerance for discrimination and retaliation.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Act strengthens the protection afforded to workers against language-based discrimination or harassment, or any form of reprisal against a person exercising a Charter right. The penalties provided for are significant: high daily fines can be imposed not only on the company, but also on its directors and officers, depending on the nature of the offence. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Francization: from 25 employees<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Francization obligations have also been extended; from 25 employees upwards, a company is now subject to francization obligations.<\/p>\n<p>The Office qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois de la langue fran\u00e7aise (OQLF) may even require the creation of a francization committee in certain companies with fewer than 100 employees.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>In conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Bill 96 therefore obliges employers to ensure the use of the French language in their HR practices, internal communications, contracts and management processes.<\/p>\n<p>A review of your policies, contracts and job postings is highly recommended to ensure that your practices comply with current requirements, even if you work mainly in French!<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t hesitate to contact us and find out more about our HR Kit, which will help you structure your practices while complying with your legal obligations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">An article by our <a href=\"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/our-services\/services-for-private-companies\/human-capital-private-companies\/\">Human Capital<\/a> team<\/p>\n<p>To continue reading :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca\/charte\/changementslegislatifs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Charter of the French Language &#8211; Legislative changes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usherbrooke.ca\/droit\/fileadmin\/sites\/droit\/documents\/Cliniques_juridiques\/Droit_ling_travail_VF.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">French, the language of work (Sherbrook University)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/carrefourrh.org\/ressources\/relations-travail\/2026\/04\/loi-96-RH-etes-vous-prets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Bill 96: HR, are you ready?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blakes.com\/fr-ca\/perspectives\/langue-francaise-nouvelles-obligations-pour-les-employeurs-%E2%80%93-etes-vous-prets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">French language: New obligations for employers &#8211; Are you ready? | Blakes <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the adoption of Bill 96 in 2022, which reinforces the Charter of the French Language, Quebec employers&#8217; obligations to the Office qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois de la langue fran\u00e7aise (OQLF) have increased considerably. More than just a linguistic issue, this is now a genuine human resources compliance and risk management issue for employers. Employers must ensure that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[132,134,135],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company-management","category-did-you-know-that","category-human-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6028,"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812\/revisions\/6028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amyotgelinas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}