Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 4, 2016 6 NEWS Wage gap worsening in Canada: Report But expert questions accuracy, logic behind numbers comparing men, women BY SABRINA NANJI WAGES for women in Canada are falling short and getting worse with time, according to a joint re- port from Oxfam and the Canadi- an Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). While the existence of a gender wage discrepancy is nothing new in employment circles, the gap is widening in Canada. For instance, in 2009, women earned 74.4 per cent of what men earned; in 2011, it was 72 per cent. e report also noted the gap is worse for margin- alized groups, including Aborigi- nal and racialized women. "Social inequality has become a perverse benefit in our upside down world, where the fact that women are paid less than men is good for profits," said Katie McIn- turff, a senior researcher at CCPA. "Global economic growth is not leading to gender equality." Making Women Count looked at how women in Canada and around the world are affected by rising inequality. It included the burden of unpaid work, such as domestic duties, and the under- valuing of work in fields dominat- ed by women (such as education and health care). e report also covered the unspoken social norms that see men offered higher wages and rates of promotion than women. "Women continue to bear the burden of unpaid work," it said. "In low- and middle-income coun- tries, women spend three times as many hours as men on unpaid care work each day. e situation in Canada is only slightly better, with women performing nearly twice as many hours of paid work each as do men." Industries traditionally domi- nated by women are also under- valued, according to the report. In trucking, for instance, the labour force is comprised mostly of men who are paid an average of $45,417 per year, compared to early child- hood educators, mostly women, who are paid $25,252 annually. Improving childcare and health care is one way to help unburden women in the workforce and level the playing field, said McInturff. Legislation is a good start, she said, adding employers can also make moves to help make the situation better for women. at includes having a daycare on-site or lucrative child-care benefits. e benefits go beyond social ones, said McInturff. For example, boosting women in the workforce translates economically because they will be earning more and, therefore, spending more money which, in turn, will improve her community. "In a world where so many women are still left behind, ad- dressing the unequal econom- ics of women's work will have a transformative impact on our economy," she said. Discrimination not the cause ough the wage gap may be un- deniable, its factors and causes are somewhat more difficult to pin down. Discrimination is not the main cause of any discrepancies, at least in Ontario, said Ben Eisen, associ- ate director of provincial prosper- ity studies at the Fraser Institute. In looking at the study, he said the myth of such a huge discrep- ancy springs from a crude com- parison of the average annual earnings for all earners, which ig- nores key variables such as tenure, hours worked and education. "In other words, comparably skilled, educated and experienced men and women working similar numbers of hours in similar pro- fessions tend to earn about the same amount of money." It is possible a discrepancy is felt by a small group because of "statistical discrimination" driven by the fact some employers pre- fer to hire young men over young women because women are more likely to take time off for child care or pregnancy, said Eisen. But the implications go beyond juicy wage-gap headlines making the news, he said. "ere are legitimate conversa- tions to be had about the effect of gender discrimination on wom- en's employment prospects and the appropriate policy response, but these are not aided by the repetition of misleading statistics that give a grossly overstated im- pression of the extent and nature of the problem." Ontario report e Ontario labour ministry con- ducted a report last fall and found women were overrepresented in lower-paying occupations and industries and made up a dispro- portionate number of employees in minimum wage and part-time positions. e report came as part of the Liberal government's Gender Wage Gap Strategy to lessen the differences. e province has said it will look to Nordic countries such as Norway, Sweden, Den- mark and Finland, where gender wage gaps are among the smallest in the world for a blueprint. "e gender wage gap is an is- sue of fairness. It could also un- dermine the competitiveness of Ontario businesses and the province's potential for economic growth," said the report. "The issue of how to make progress toward closing the gen- der wage gap and better the situ- ation for women at work is com- plex. It will require collaboration between government, business, labour, other organizations and individual leaders." "In a world where so many women are still left behind, addressing the unequal economics of women's work will have a transformative impact." leave credits were almost used up so paid sick leave was refused. Rahmani then requested paid leave from his accumulated annu- al leave, but this was also refused because Transport Canada didn't allow regular leave to be used as sick leave. e employer was be- ginning to believe Rahmani used sick leave as blackmail, as he often took it when he didn't get what he wanted. Transport Canada completed the investigation and determined Rahmani was guilty of work- place violence. Before it decided on discipline, management met with Rahmani to hear his point of view. Rahmani initially said at a June 29 meeting that his act was "regrettable and inappropriate" and he apologized for striking someone. He refused to answer any further questions without being provided with them in advance. At a second meeting on Aug. 22, Rahmani stuck by his version of events that he acted defensively and he claimed he was a victim of prejudice from Desbiens and other employees. He then pre- sented a medical certificate im- plying he had a medical condition that might explain why he acted out, as well as medication that could cause irritability and mood swings. Medical assessment Transport Canada asked Health Canada to assess Rahmani's fit- ness to work, including whether his medical condition could have been a factor in his violent act and whether he could be reinstated to work. e Health Canada assessment dated Jan. 24, 2013, indicated Rahmani was "unfit for any work at present," and a followup letter indicated the condition for which Rahmani was being treated had "the potential to affect a person's behaviour and his or her ability to react to stress," with the caveat that it couldn't rule on the medi- cal aspect of the Feb. 10, 2012, incident because Rahmani wasn't evaluated at that time. Transport Canada sought clari- fication on potential causality be- tween Rahmani's medical condi- tion and the Feb. 10 incident and Health Canada once again indi- cated it didn't evaluate him at the time, but noted "it is plausible and consistent with the medical infor- mation in his file that his medical condition was similar in February 2012." On Apr. 4, 2013, Transport Canada terminated Rahmani's employment for voluntarily com- mitting a violent act at work that broke the bond of trust. e de- partment's decision also factored in that Rahmani had never apolo- gized and other employees were afraid to work with him. e Canada Public Service La- bour Relations and Employment Board noted that Transport Can- ada had an obligation to provide a healthy and safe working environ- ment so it had to uphold the idea that violence in the workplace was unacceptable. is left no doubt that Rahmani's actions warranted a "severe penalty." However, the board considered several mitigating factors. It dis- agreed that Rahmani showed no remorse, as he admitted the inci- dent was regrettable, though he felt he was being picked on. e board found Desbiens, while not deserving to be assaulted, wasn't an "innocent victim" since there was animosity between him and Rahmani and "it is impossible to believe that he did not think of spiting" Rahmani by appearing at his door a few minutes after the announcement of his appoint- ment as team supervisor, said the board. Transport Canada also should have been aware of Rahmani's dis- tress — he was unhappy, had bad relations with Desbiens and other employees, had just come back from sick leave and Rahmani pro- duced a medical note from his doc- tor at the first investigation meet- ing indicating his actions might have been attributable to a medical condition, found the board. Rahmani later said he didn't provide the note until months af- ter the incident because he didn't want to share his health problems at work, which the board found was reasonable given the stigma of mental health issues. In addition to the medical note, the Health Canada assessment in- dicated Rahmani may have been affected by his condition and medication, but this seemed to be discounted by the employer. The board found Transport Canada discriminated against Rahmani because of his medi- cal disability when it refused to consider his state of health at the time of termination and didn't consider the possibility of accommodation. "The employer cannot deny that when (Rahmani) was termi- nated in April 2013, it was aware of a medical situation that could at least partly explain (his) unfortu- nate act," said the board. Transport Canada was ordered to reinstate Rahmani to his job as of January 2016, which was the date Rahmani was declared by a psychiatrist to be fit to return to work. Due to the seriousness of Rahmani's misconduct, he was not entitled to any retroactive pay since his termination. In addition, Transport Cana- da was ordered to pay Rahmani $15,000 for pain and suffering and $10,000 in special compensation for the discrimination he suffered. Rahmani was also required to comply with the treatment plan prescribed by doctors for his condition. For more information see: • Rahmani c. Administrateur gen- eral (ministère des Transports), 2016 CarswellNat 460 (Can. Public Service Lab. Rel. and Emp. Bd.). Jeffrey R. Smith is the editor of Ca- nadian Employment Law Today. For more information, visit www.employ- mentlawtoday.com. Fitness assessed REINSTATEMENT < pg. 5 Credit: Louis Nastro (Reuters) A senior engineer working on airplane accreditation was reinstated after a labour board found there was discrimination, despite an assault.

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