Canadian HR Reporter

4 www.hrreporter.com N E W S from scratch and apply a new consistent approach to all of our jobs,'" she says. "It's a significant amount of work. And if you've got different bargaining agents in your organization, they'll have to agree as well." Looking at the issue of gender predominance may also be tricky if there is unequal gender proportion at an orga- nization; for example, there might be lot of male-dominated jobs that are higher paid than the female-dominated jobs, says MacFarlane. "That, of course, is what the legislation wants to find out. And now you've got to close that gap." An employer might also find it doesn't have male-dominated jobs to compare to, so the act talks about using proxy groups from a similar organization, she says. "That's a whole other set of difficulties to tackle to try and get very confidential salary data from another organization, which may very well be a competitor." Confidentiality concerns The requirement to post or make avail- able compensation levels could be a potential challenge as that type of infor- mation is otherwise confidential and not openly shared, says Wong. "The reality, though, is that it is some- what of an open playing field, because that requirement applies to all other similarly situated or at least federally regulated private sector employers with 10 or more employees — everyone's in the same boat, so to speak." On that note, a big ship builder on the east coast that's federally regulated recently asked if there was any way it could exclude the disclosure of the incen- tive compensation paid to executives because the pay equity committee is made up of union members, says Lawson. "The answer is no, there doesn't appear to be any avenue for what I would call additional confidentiality, outside of the requirement that those on the committee have to treat the information with confi- dentiality," he says, and they will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Some employers also have special deals that aren't revealed to everybody in the company, but technically speaking, that information (because it's all compen- sation rather than just salary) has to be reported to the committee to determine the distillation of the hourly rate for every job class, says Lawson. "That's a hard one, I think, for compa- nies to get their handle around, particu- larly at the senior level." There are ways that confidentiality can be maintained, says DeSousa. "It's a question of what mechanisms the employer puts in place. But there has to be transparency as well — it's a very delicate balance. However, at the end of the day, our goal is to ensure that we have gender parity when it comes to wages, and we really want to advance gender equality. So there's ways to go around it and to deal with it. But there has to be that transparency there, and account- ability for employers." That accountability includes fines of $30,000 to $50,000 for non-compli- ance. But it's important to have that enforcement because if you look, for example, at the Employment Equity Act, it really has no accountability, she says. "As such, we've seen years go by where there's been no advancement through employment equity because it hasn't been a priority, and there's a lack of account- ability. So, the enforcement piece is very pinnacle for compliance in ensuring employers meet their requirements." Despite this victory with the new Pay Equity Act, the work is not done when it comes to advancing equity in the work- place, says DeSousa. "The next piece that we're working on is the long-needed review of the Employment Equity Act, which seeks to proactively eliminate barriers for equity seeking groups, including women in federally regulated workplaces." CHRR NUMBERS ADD UP FOR PAY EQUITY IN CANADA "You have to look at your workplace with the view of job classes, and it can have a real impact upon all the compensation structuring." Tim Lawson, McCarthy Tétrault Sept. 3, 2024 Deadline for federally regulated employers to establish a pay equity plan $30,000 Fine for non- compliance for employers with up to 99 employees $50,000 Fine for non- compliance for employers with 100 or more employees 415,000 Number of employees in the public sector (including the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP) 888,200 Number of employees in the private sector (including transportation, banks, telecom and Crown corporations) Source: Government of Canada Canada Post and the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association resolved a long-standing pay equity dispute in 2019.

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