Article written by Natalie Beaudoin, B.SC., M.Sc.A., CHRP.
The Pay Equity Act creates a number of obligations for employers, including the obligation to carry out an initial pay equity exercise within four calendar years of the year in which the enterprise has reached an average of 10 or more employees. Thereafter, the employer must evaluate the maintenance of pay equity every five years. He is also obliged to post the results of this work so that they are accessible to his company’s employees. The Pay Equity Act applies to all enterprises, private or public, under provincial jurisdiction.
Since companies are bound to evolve, the aim of the pay equity maintenance assessment is to ensure that people in typically female jobs still receive equal pay to those in typically male jobs of equivalent value within a company.
When is pay equity maintenance due?
Since the 2019 legislative amendments to the Pay Equity Act, employers must indicate in their postings all events occurring in the company and the date on which they took place. They must then check whether these events have generated pay discrepancies and, if so, the discrepancy must be corrected from the event that caused it.
Each event must be recorded and evaluated.
What is an applicable event?
The following are examples of events that can lead to pay discrepancies and for which a pay equity maintenance assessment must be carried out:
- the creation or disappearance of jobs or job categories
- changing the predominance of a job category
- changes to current jobs or their conditions
- negotiation or renewal of a collective agreement
- salary revisions
- a change within the organization, such as an increase or reduction in the workforce, a merger or acquisition, the sale or transfer of part of the business, or a change in the company’s mission or activities
- raising the minimum wage or amending labor laws
Are you aware of the changes to the law?
In 2019, the Pay Equity Act was amended on several points. Here are the main changes:
- The pay equity evaluation must no longer consider only jobs and their wages on the evaluation date, but all jobs and their wages in the five years preceding the evaluation date.
- A salary discrepancy identified at the time of the retention assessment must now be corrected from the date of the event that caused it.
- The employer is no longer required to provide a notice of posting. However, it is still obliged to display the results, and must now indicate the events that generated pay differentials.
- An online complaint form has been created for people who believe their rights have been infringed.
- Employers must now retain all documentation used to carry out their pay equity work for six years (instead of five), or until a decision is rendered in the case of a complaint or investigation.
- Some employers are now obliged to set up a process for involving employees in the assessment of maintenance. The purpose of this process is to gather questions and comments on the work from employees or accredited associations.
Employer Declaration of Pay Equity (DEMES)
Any employer whose business is registered with the Quebec Business Registry and who declared having 11 or more employees in the previous year must produce an annual DEMES, until such time as they certify that they have carried out the initial pay equity exercise in their business.
Thereafter, the company must file a new declaration following the completion of its pay equity audit.
The DEMES is a separate obligation from the initial exercise and the pay equity maintenance assessment.
You can access the online DEMES directly using your clicSÉQUR code.
CNESST
To find out more about pay equity or to help you meet your obligations, you can consult the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) website In addition, the website presents important data on Canadian pay equity.
More questions? We have the answer.
What is equity in the workplace?
Pay equity is the right of a person to receive a salary equal to that of another person occupying a job of equivalent value in the same company. Pay equity reduces the pay gap between typically female and typically male jobs. It’s a right for all workers.
What's the difference between equal pay and pay equity?
Equal pay means offering a woman the same salary as a man for the same job. Pay equity goes further. It consists of offering a person in a female job the same salary as a person in an equivalent male job, even if it is different.
What is pay equity in Canada?
Equal pay means offering a woman the same salary as a man for the same job. Pay equity goes further. It consists of offering a person in a female job the same salary as a person in an equivalent male job, even if it is different.
How do I achieve pay equity?
The Pay Equity Act requires all companies under provincial jurisdiction with an average of ten or more employees to carry out a pay equity exercise. A pay equity assessment must then be carried out every five years. The various training courses offered by Demers Beaulne will help you answer these and many other questions.
What is a fair wage?
What is pay equity? Pay equity is equal pay for work of equal value. This concept involves comparing jobs normally held by women with different jobs normally held by men. Pay equity is not equal pay for equal work.
