The initial exercise
The initial exercise is the essential first step in implementing pay equity and is mandatory for all businesses employing 10 or more people.
Pay equity work is a regular exercise to be carried out by the employer, which evaluates and compares typically female jobs with typically male jobs in order to raise the wages of typically female positions if pay differences are identified.
The initial exercise will enable the employer to identify the business’s various job categories based on three characteristics:
- Similar duties or responsibilities ;
- Similar qualifications ;
- Access to the same remuneration.
These categories are then associated with gender predominance based on four criteria. Where there are typically female and male categories, pay equity work will continue.
If the work reveals wage differences between typically female and male job categories of equivalent value, pay adjustments are necessary. Therefore, people in typically female jobs could receive a salary adjustment as a result of the work carried out by their employer.
The employer cannot reduce the salary of a typically male job category. These adjustments must be maintained, even if salary increases are applied to all workers, to avoid creating new gaps.
The pay equity maintenance audit
The pay equity maintenance audit ensures that no new wage differences have been created over the years. If differences are found, they must be corrected and paid to workers in typically female jobs.
The initial exercise must be audited on a regular basis to ensure that it is maintained and that typically female jobs are always treated the same as typically male jobs of equivalent value.
Every five years after the initial exercise, the employer must carry out a pay equity maintenance audit. The aim of the audit is to ensure that all people in typically female jobs are always paid the same as those in typically male positions of equivalent value within the business.
Salaries are audited on the basis of the value assigned to each job category. Value is determined on the basis of four main factors: qualifications required, responsibilities assumed, effort required and working conditions.
If differences are found, the employer must correct them by paying salary adjustments that include:
A lump-sum amount to correct salary differences between the date of the event that affected pay equity and the new posting of the maintenance audit.
A pay adjustment, i.e. the amount to be added to the remuneration of workers in a typically female job category for which a pay gap still exists on the anniversary date.
