Pay Equity Act (S.C. 2018, c. 27, s. 416)

Marginal note:Vote

• 20 (1) The members who represent employees have, as a group, one vote and the members who represent the employer have, as a group, one vote. A decision of a group counts as a vote only if it is unanimous. If the members who represent employees cannot, as a group, reach a unanimous decision on a matter, that group forfeits its right to vote and the vote of the group of members who represent the employer prevails.

• Marginal note:Minimum composition required for vote

  (2) The pay equity committee may hold a vote only if there is present for it

  • (a) at least one member who represents the employer;

  • (b) for each bargaining agent, if any, that selected members, at least one such member; and

  • (c) one member who represents non-unionized employees, if any.

Marginal note:Directions from employer

• 21 (1) An employer must give to any member of a pay equity committee who represents the employer sufficient direction to permit the member to perform their work as the employer’s representative on the committee.

• Marginal note:Directions from bargaining agent

  (2) A bargaining agent must give to any member of a pay equity committee who represents employees who are members of any bargaining unit represented by the bargaining agent sufficient direction to permit the member to perform their work as those employees’ representative on the committee.

Marginal note:Measures to facilitate the selection of members

• 22 (1) To facilitate the selection of employee representatives on a pay equity committee, an employer must make available, as necessary, its premises and equipment and must permit its employees to take time away from their work, as required, to participate in the selection process.

• Marginal note:Measures to support work of committee

  (2) Once the pay equity committee is established, the employer must make available, as necessary, its premises and equipment for the work of the committee and must permit employees who are members of the committee to take time away from their work, as required, to participate in training sessions and meetings of the committee and to perform their work as a member of the committee.

• Marginal note:Employee deemed at work

  (3) An employee who takes time away from their work in accordance with subsection (1) or (2) is deemed to be at work for all purposes.

Marginal note:Requirement to provide information — employer

• 23 (1) An employer must provide the pay equity committee with any information in the employer’s possession that the committee considers necessary for the establishment of the pay equity plan.

• Marginal note:Requirement to provide information — employees and bargaining agents

  (2) Every employee to whom the pay equity plan relates and, if some of those employees are unionized employees, every bargaining agent that represents those unionized employees, must provide the pay equity committee with any information within their knowledge or control that the committee considers necessary for the establishment of the pay equity plan.

Marginal note:Requirement to keep information confidential — committee members

• 24 (1) Each person who is or was a member of a pay equity committee to which information is provided in accordance with section 23 must keep confidential — except for the purpose for which it is provided — any of the information that is specified by the employer, employee or bargaining agent, as the case may be, as being confidential.

• Marginal note:Employers and bargaining agents

  (2) Each employer and each bargaining agent that receives, from a member of a pay equity committee, information that the member is required under subsection (1) to keep confidential, must also keep the information confidential.

Marginal note:Notice of establishment of plan without committee

25 If an employer, despite having made all reasonable efforts, is unable to establish a pay equity committee, the employer must apply to the Pay Equity Commissioner for authorization to establish the pay equity plan without a pay equity committee. If that authorization is granted, the employer must post a notice informing the employees to whom the pay equity plan relates that the employer will establish the pay equity plan without a pay equity committee.

Marginal note:Notice of establishment of plan without committee — group of employers

26 If a group of employers, despite having made all reasonable efforts, is unable to establish a pay equity committee, the group must apply to the Pay Equity Commissioner for authorization to establish the pay equity plan without a committee. If that authorization is granted, each employer in the group must post a notice informing its employees to whom the pay equity plan relates that the group of employers will establish the pay equity plan without a committee.

Marginal note:Committee does not meet requirement after establishment

27 If a pay equity committee established by an employer does not, at any time after it has been established, meet the requirements set out in any of paragraphs 19(1)(a), (b), (d) and (e), the employer must apply to the Pay Equity Commissioner for authorization for the continuation of the committee with different requirements than the ones set out in that paragraph.

Marginal note:Committee cannot perform work

28 If, at any time after establishing a pay equity committee, an employer is of the opinion that the committee is unable to perform its work, the employer may apply to the Pay Equity Commissioner for authorization to establish the pay equity plan without a committee. If that authorization is granted, the employer must post a notice informing the employees to whom the pay equity plan relates that the employer will establish the pay equity plan without a committee.

Marginal note:Committee cannot perform work — group of employers

29 If, at any time after establishing a pay equity committee, a group of employers is of the opinion that the committee is unable to perform its work, the group may apply to the Pay Equity Commissioner for authorization to establish the pay equity plan without a committee. If that authorization is granted, each employer in the group must post a notice informing its employees to whom the pay equity plan relates that the group of employers will establish the pay equity plan without a committee.

Marginal note:Multiple plans

• 30 (1) An employer referred to in subsection 16(1) or (3), a bargaining agent for any unionized employees of the employer or a non-unionized employee of the employer may apply to the Pay Equity Commissioner to approve the establishment of more than one pay equity plan.

• Marginal note:Multiple plans — group of employers

  (2) A group of employers referred to in subsection 17(1) or (3), a bargaining agent for any unionized employees of an employer that is in the group or a non-unionized employee of an employer that is in the group may apply to the Pay Equity Commissioner to approve the establishment of more than one pay equity plan.

• Marginal note:Application — required information

  (3) The employer, group of employers, bargaining agent or employee, as the case may be, must, in the application,

  • (a) indicate the number of pay equity plans being proposed; and

  • (b) identify the employer’s employees — or, if the employer is in a group of employers, all of the employees of the employers in the group — to whom each pay equity plan would relate.

• Marginal note:Evidence and representations

  (4) The Pay Equity Commissioner must give an opportunity to make representations, in the manner that he or she specifies, to the applicant, to the employer or group of employers, if it is not the applicant, and to any bargaining agents and non-unionized employees that are not the applicant and that the Pay Equity Commissioner considers would be affected by the application.

• Marginal note:Denial of application

  (5) The Pay Equity Commissioner must deny the application if he or she is of the opinion that, if more than one pay equity plan were to be established it would not be possible for the employer or group of employers, or a pay equity committee, as the case may be, to identify enough predominantly male job classes for a comparison of compensation to be made under section 47 in respect of each of those pay equity plans.

• Marginal note:Approval of application

  (6) If the Pay Equity Commissioner approves the application, the employer or group of employers, as the case may be, must establish, in accordance with this Act, each of the pay equity plans whose establishment is approved.

PART 2Process for Establishment of Pay Equity Plan

Purpose

Marginal note:Steps to be followed

31 The purpose of this Part is to set out the steps leading to the establishment of a pay equity plan.

Identification of Job Classes

Marginal note:Job classes

32 An employer — or, if a pay equity committee has been established, that committee — must start by identifying the job class of positions occupied or that may be occupied by employees to whom the pay equity plan relates. Subject to section 34, positions are considered to be in the same job class if

• (a) they have similar duties and responsibilities;

• (b) they require similar qualifications; and

• (c) they are part of the same compensation plan and are within the same range of salary rates.

Marginal note:One-position job classes

33 A job class may consist of only one position.

Marginal note:Job classes in core public administration

34 Positions in the core public administration that are at the same group and level comprise a single job class.

Determination of Predominantly Female and Predominantly Male Job Classes

Marginal note:Determination

35 Once an employer — or, if a pay equity committee has been established, that committee — has identified all of the job classes under section 32, it must determine which of them are predominantly female job classes and which of them are predominantly male job classes.

Marginal note:Predominantly female job classes

36 A job class is considered to be a predominantly female job class if

• (a) at least 60% of the positions in the job class are occupied by women;

• (b) historically, at least 60% of the positions in the job class were occupied by women; or

• (c) the job class is one that is commonly associated with women due to gender-based occupational stereotyping.

Marginal note:Predominantly male job classes

37 A job class is considered to be a predominantly male job class if

• (a) at least 60% of the positions in the job class are occupied by men;

• (b) historically, at least 60% of the positions in the job class were occupied by men; or

• (c) the job class is one that is commonly associated with men due to gender-based occupational stereotyping.

Marginal note:Group of job classes

• 38 (1) An employer — or, if a pay equity committee has been established, that committee — may treat a group of job classes as a single predominantly female job class if at least 60% of the positions in the group are occupied by women.

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (2) If an employer or pay equity committee, as the case may be, treats a group of job classes as a single predominantly female job class, this Act applies in respect of the group of job classes as if it were a single predominantly female job class, unless the context otherwise requires.

Marginal note:Notice to Pay Equity Commissioner

39 If an employer — or, if a pay equity committee has been established, that committee — determines under section 35 that there is at least one predominantly female job class but that there are no predominantly male job classes, and no regulations have been made under paragraph 181(1)(c), the employer must notify the Pay Equity Commissioner of that determination.

Marginal note:Application of regulations

40 If regulations have been made under paragraph 181(1)(c), those regulations apply in place of sections 41 to 50.

Determination of Value of Work

Marginal note:Determination

• 41 (1) If an employer — or, if a pay equity committee has been established, that committee — determines under section 35 that there is at least one predominantly female job class and at least one predominantly male job class, the employer or committee, as the case may be, must determine the value of the work performed in each of the predominantly female and predominantly male job classes determined under that section.

• Marginal note:Value already determined

  (2) For greater certainty, an employer or pay equity committee, as the case may be, may determine that the value of the work performed in each of the predominantly female and predominantly male job classes determined under section 35 is the value that has already been determined by means of a method that complies with the requirements set out in sections 42 and 43 and any other requirements that are prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Group of job classes

  (3) If an employer or pay equity committee, as the case may be, treats a group of job classes as a predominantly female job class in accordance with section 38, the value of the work performed in that job class is considered to be the value of the work performed in the individual predominantly female job class within the group that has the greatest number of employees.