Upcoming deadlines for complying with federal pay equity legislation

Another compliance deadline is approaching under the federal Pay Equity Act – federally regulated employers are required to file an annual statement with the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner on or before June 30, 2025, if they posted a pay equity plan in the previous year. This annual reporting obligation continues to apply every year thereafter. 

The Pay Equity Act (the Act), which came into force on August 31, 2021, requires federally regulated employers to proactively address systemic gender-based discrimination in compensation practices by determining whether there are gaps in pay between employees in predominantly female job classes and those in similarly valued predominantly male job classes. 

Most subject employers should have posted their final pay equity plans and notices of pay increases by September 3, 2024, unless a filing deadline extension was authorized by the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner (the Pay Equity Office).  Below, we will discuss upcoming deadlines and other information relevant to employers subject to the Act.

Annual statement

To ensure ongoing compliance by employers, the Act requires subject employers to file an annual statement with the Pay Equity Office on or before June 30 of each calendar year. This means many federally regulated employers face an upcoming deadline to file their annual statements for the first time on June 30, 2025, if they:

• continue to be federally regulated workplaces with 10 or more employees; and

• posted their final pay equity plans in 2024.

Employers who received authorization to extend the deadline for posting their final pay equity plans are required to file their annual statements by June 30 of the calendar year following the year in which they posted their final pay equity plans. For example, if an employer received an extension to February 1, 2025, to post the final pay equity plan, that employer’s first annual statement must be filed by June 30, 2026. 

The annual statement must contain information about the employer and its pay equity plan, including 

• the name of the employer,
• the total number of employees employed by the employer in the past year,
• the date on which the employer became subject to the Act, 
• the date of the most recently posted version of the pay equity plan, 
• an indication as to whether the most recently posted version of the pay equity plan was established or updated, with or without a pay equity committee, and 
• the number of predominantly female job classes identified in the plan for which an increase in compensation must be provided, as well as the amount of the increase and the date on which the increase will be made.

Annual statements can be filed through the annual statement portal on the Canadian Human Rights Commission website. Employers are not required to share their annual statements with other workplace parties prior to filing them.

Pay equity plan update

In addition to the annual statement, employers are required by the Act to post updated versions of their pay equity plans every five years to identify and address new pay gaps. The updating process involves annually collecting workplace data, analyzing workplace information and comparing the compensation of predominantly female job classes with that of similarly valued predominantly male job classes. 

Employers that are unionized or have 100 or more employees must establish a pay equity committee in order to update the pay equity plan.

Administrative monetary penalties

An employer that violates the Act may incur administrative monetary penalties. The maximum penalty per violation is $30,000 for employers with between 10 and 99 employees and $50,000 for employers with 100 or more employees. The actual penalties will be determined based on various factors, including the seriousness of the violation, and as outlined in regulations made under the Act.

Takeaways

With reporting deadlines on the horizon, federally regulated employers should prepare their annual statements within the legislated timeframes. Employers should also regularly review their annual data collection, consider the potential need to establish a pay equity committee for the maintenance process, and ensure proper implementation of the pay equity plan to ensure ongoing compliance with the Act. Any questions or concerns about compliance with the Act should be addressed with legal counsel.

The author would like to thank Valerie Li, articling student, for her contribution to preparing this legal update.