Pay equity as a safeguard against gender-based discrimination
Pay equity is a right for all workers, including temporary foreign workers. Its purpose is to correct wage differences between typically female and typically male jobs.
Pay equity is the right for all workers, including temporary foreign workers, to receive equal pay for work of equal value within the same business.
Pay equity helps reduce wage gaps between jobs predominantly held by men (managers, janitors, delivery drivers, etc.) and those predominantly held by women (secretaries, receptionists, nurses, etc.), which may otherwise be affected by gender-based pay discrimination.
Pay equity and pay equality
Pay equity is different from pay equality.
Pay equality requires equal pay for equal work. For example, two machinists must be paid the same if they have the same length of service. With pay equity, the machinist (a typically male job) should receive the same salary as an administrative assistant (typically female job) in the same business.
Pay equity work means
Each business may undertake pay equity audits.
It’s necessary to evaluate and compare female-dominated jobs with male-dominated jobs, in order to adjust the wages of female-dominated positions upwards if wage differences are found.
The Pay Equity Act applies to businesses with an average of 10 workers (including temporary foreign workers). According to the Act, this average is calculated “based on the number of workers recorded in the employer’s register for each pay period during a calendar year.”
Consequently, the process begins with a count of the total number of workers in the business, since the obligations imposed on employers vary according to workforce size.
À noter que la loi vise les personnes salariées syndiquées et non syndiquées, peu importe leur statut d’emploi (temps plein, temps partiel, permanent, temporaire, saisonnier, etc.).
