Corporate French Training for Bill 96 Compliance: What Montreal Employers Must Do in 2026

As of June 2025, Bill 96 now applies to businesses with just 25 employees.

If your Montreal business has grown past the 25-employee mark in the last year, there's a good chance you're now legally required to register with the Office québécois de la langue française—and many employers genuinely don't realize it yet. This isn't a minor administrative footnote. It comes with real deadlines, real committees, and real financial penalties for getting it wrong.

This guide breaks down exactly what changed, who's affected, what the process actually involves, and why corporate French training sits at the centre of most compliance strategies.

Table of Contents

• What Changed in 2025: The New 25-Employee Threshold
• Who Is Affected: Understanding the Employee Thresholds
• The Registration and Francization Process, Step by Step
• Beyond Registration: Day-to-Day Workplace Obligations
• The Cost of Non-Compliance
• Why Language Training Is Central to Francization
• How Berlitz Montreal Supports Bill 96 Compliance
• Key Takeaways
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Changed in 2025: The New 25-Employee Threshold

Bill 96—officially An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec—amended the Charter of the French Language back in 2022, but one of its most consequential provisions only came into force on June 1, 2025: the francization registration threshold dropped from 50 employees to 25.

According to the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), roughly 20,000 Quebec businesses employ between 25 and 49 people—meaning tens of thousands of employers, many in and around Montreal, became newly subject to formal francization obligations essentially overnight. If your headcount has crossed 25 employees over any six-month period, this almost certainly includes you.

Who Is Affected: Understanding the Employee Thresholds

The Charter now applies different levels of obligation depending on company size, and understanding exactly where your business falls matters for planning your compliance timeline.

25 to 49 employees: Must register with the OQLF and begin a francization process. The OQLF can also order the creation of a francization committee for businesses in this range if it determines French isn't sufficiently generalized across the organization.

50 to 99 employees: Subject to the same registration requirement, with the OQLF holding discretion to require a formal francization committee.

100 or more employees: A francization committee is mandatory, not discretionary—these organizations have carried this obligation for years already.

It's worth noting that Bill 96 applies to any organization with employees in Quebec, regardless of where the company is headquartered. A national company with a Montreal office of 30 people is just as subject to these rules as a Quebec-founded business.

The Registration and Francization Process, Step by Step

For a newly affected business, the process generally unfolds in a predictable sequence. First, register with the OQLF through their online portal, providing basic information about your organization and workforce.

Once registered, the OQLF evaluates whether French is sufficiently generalized throughout your business. If it isn't, your company is formally notified that it must develop and adopt a francization program, as outlined under Article 140 of the Charter—typically within three months of receiving your registration attestation.

From there, compliance is ongoing rather than a one-time task. Companies must submit implementation reports to the OQLF every 12 months, distribute those reports to staff, and provide a more comprehensive report every three years. Francization committees, where required, meet on a continuing basis—generally every six months—to keep the process moving.

Beyond Registration: Day-to-Day Workplace Obligations

Registration and committees address the structural side of compliance, but Bill 96 also imposes obligations that apply to virtually every Quebec employer, regardless of size. These took effect back in June 2022 and remain fully in force today.

Employment offers, transfer and promotion notices, individual employment contracts, and training materials produced for staff must all be provided in French. Written communications sent to employees must also be in French, unless an employee specifically requests otherwise—the French version isn't optional, and an English version can only follow, not replace it.

Job postings requiring English or another language must be justified: employers need to demonstrate they've taken reasonable steps to avoid that requirement before advertising a role as needing a non-French language. Simply preferring bilingual candidates isn't sufficient justification on its own.

The Cost of Non-Compliance

The financial consequences of ignoring these obligations are not symbolic. Individuals can face fines ranging from $700 to $7,000, while businesses face penalties between $3,000 and $30,000—with fines increasing for repeat offences.

Beyond direct fines, non-compliance can carry consequences for a business's permits and operating licences in more serious or repeated cases. For most employers, though, the more immediate risk is reputational: failing a francization review or facing employee complaints can damage trust with staff and the broader Quebec market at a moment when public attention to language compliance is high.

Why Language Training Is Central to Francization

Francization isn't purely a paperwork exercise—at its core, it's meant to ensure French is genuinely the normal, everyday language of work. That means employee language ability is directly relevant to whether your business passes an OQLF review, not just a nice-to-have alongside it.

The OQLF itself has discretion to identify businesses—even those with as few as five employees in certain sectors—to receive French language learning services. This underscores a point many employers miss: structured French training for non-francophone staff isn't just good practice, it's an explicit part of how the law expects generalized French use to actually happen in practice, not just on paper.

How Berlitz Montreal Supports Bill 96 Compliance

Berlitz Montreal's Business French programs are designed around exactly this need: helping non-francophone employees reach genuine workplace fluency, not just conversational familiarity, using industry-specific vocabulary relevant to their actual roles.

Programs are available at your Montreal offices, at Berlitz's downtown centre, or online, with formats scaled to fit a francization committee's timeline—whether that's a handful of employees needing focused coaching or a company-wide rollout supporting a full francization program submission.

Key Takeaways

• The threshold dropped to 25 employees: As of June 2025, far more Montreal businesses are subject to formal francization obligations than before.
• Obligations go beyond registration: Employment documents, workplace communications, and job postings all carry French-language requirements today, regardless of company size.
• Language training is part of compliance, not separate from it: Genuine workplace French ability among staff is directly tied to passing an OQLF francization review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Bill 96 apply to my business if I'm headquartered outside Quebec?

Yes. Bill 96 applies to any organization with employees in Quebec, regardless of where the company's headquarters is located.

What happens if my business doesn't register with the OQLF on time?

Non-compliance can result in fines ranging from $3,000 to $30,000 for businesses, with increased penalties for repeat offences, and can affect permits or licences in more serious cases.

Do all businesses with 25 or more employees need a francization committee?

Not automatically. Businesses with 25 to 49 employees must register and begin a francization process, but a formal committee is only mandatory at 100+ employees—though the OQLF can require one for smaller businesses if French use is judged insufficient.

Can corporate French training help with francization compliance?

Yes. Structured French training for non-francophone employees directly supports the goal of francization—ensuring French is genuinely the everyday language of work—and can be a key part of a company's francization program submitted to the OQLF.