Makes good business sense in identifying potential bias, reducing employee turnover
It’s a historic occasion: June 15, 2017, marks the 30th anniversary of the unanimous, all-party passage of Ontario’s Pay Equity Act.
“We have made an important and significant start,” said former attorney general Ian Scott at the time. “We have undertaken a significant social change. We are doing something that is right and just and important for women, and I believe we are doing it in a way that will permit Ontario’s economy to thrive and prosper and create jobs.”
For three decades, the Pay Equity Office has promoted gender economic equality by enforcing pay equity rights and obligations, promoting awareness of the need to address gender economic equality, and contributing to research around the gender wage gap.
History of pay equity
Pay equity, or equal pay for work of equal value, has long been recognized as a human right in recognition of the fact that women’s work, especially in the years following the Second World War, was consistently undervalued and underpaid.
Despite this recognition, the passage of this historic legislation was not easy. Ontario’s Pay Equity Act was the culmination of years of public debate and consultation. During the 1970s and early ’80s, women from different generations and backgrounds rallied and mobilized to raise awareness and build momentum for change. Numerous conferences, workshops and rallies were held to bring attention to the existence of gender-based workplace discrimination.
A change in the provincial political dynamic saw the commissioning of a Green Paper on Pay Equity in 1985. Public consultations followed. Debates on pay equity were contentious. The consultation panel received 385 written and oral presentations. Lawyers, stakeholders, unions, scholars, members of provincial parliament, chambers of commerce and other social groups all provided input during the process and in the hearings that followed introduction of the legislation.
Finally, Bill 154, known as the Pay Equity Act, 1986, was proclaimed on Jan. 1, 1988, and came into effect on that date.
Private, public sector affected
With its passage, Ontario became one of the first jurisdictions in the world to legislatively require both private sector employers with 10 or more employees and public sector employers to have compensation practices that provide for pay equity on an ongoing basis, not dependent upon a complaint.
The act requires employers to:
• undertake comparisons between female and male job classes in terms of compensation and value
• determine value of work using a composite of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions
• use one of three methods of comparison described in the act
• achieve pay equity by adjusting the job rates of female job classes so they are at least equal to the job rates of comparably valued male job classes
• eliminate pay equity gaps that may emerge due to changes in the workplace by maintaining pay equity.
Ontario’s Pay Equity Commission was created to administer the act. The commission has two distinct branches: the Pay Equity Office that enforces the act, and the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal that adjudicates disputes arising from a decision of the Pay Equity Office.
The Pay Equity Office achieves its mandate through:
• investigating and resolving complaints through alternative-dispute resolution methods, or issuing orders for compliance
• referring orders to the tribunal for adjudication and final enforcement
• monitoring establishments for compliance with the provisions of the act
• conducting education and outreach
• researching and disseminating information about pay equity and Ontario’s gender wage gaps to the public and workplace parties
• preparing reports and recommendations to the minister about pay equity and related matters.
Outreach, education and research
The Pay Equity Office takes every opportunity to make submissions in various forums where issues involving women and work are being considered. These range from submissions to the Ministry of Labour’s Changing Workplaces Review to the United Nations’ Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice.
More recently, the office provided staff and resources to the Ministry of Labour’s Gender Wage Gap Strategy Steering Committee, whose mandate was to research the causes of the gender wage gap, consult with the public and provide recommendations on ways to close the gap.
The office also provides opportunities for academic and stakeholder research through its Gender Wage Gap Grant Program.
The program is entering its fourth grant cycle and has funded eight projects covering a wide range of topics.
The Pay Equity Office has numerous resources that are easily accessed through its website to assist workplace parties in understanding and complying with the act, including a comprehensive Guide to Interpreting the Pay Equity Act. These resources are refreshed and updated as necessary.
Is pay equity “worth it”?
Pay equity, along with equal pay for equal work, is a human right.
Recognizing and complying with the law should be the norm, not the exception, as it represents an acknowledgement by business of the inherent societal value in correcting workplace gender discrimination.
And it is evident the law is still required. For employees, it is certainly worth it. In the past two years alone, employees in female-dominated job classes have received more than $10 million in compensation adjustments through the Pay Equity Office’s efforts.
Addressing gender equity at work makes good business sense.
The pay equity process helps employers and employees understand the contributions made by all jobs at an organization, and helps identify other areas of potential bias that represent barriers to employee engagement and organizational productivity.
Research shows workplaces that establish gender equity are more likely to have a competitive advantage in attracting highly skilled workers, reduce the cost of employee turnover and demonstrate better organizational and financial performance.
In 2010, TD Economics found that retaining women workers and improving their economic outcomes is important for businesses’ competitiveness, as women are a critical human resource for filling future labour shortages. Raising women’s participation in paid work by just one per cent could add 115,000 workers to Canada’s workforce.
From a societal and consumer prospective, it makes good economic sense. The gender wage gap represents $18 billion of foregone income per year, according to 2016 analysis from Deloitte, representing about 2.5 per cent of Ontario’s gross domestic product — the same contribution made by the motor vehicle and parts industries combined.
Human resource professionals are often involved in helping an employer understand the importance of employee satisfaction, the components of employee satisfaction, and how employee satisfaction contributes to the bottom line.
Ensuring equitable compensation practices, which are pay-equity compliant, certainly contributes to this engagement and, in turn, minimizes an employer’s liability.
Emanuela Heyninck is the commissioner of the Ontario Pay Equity Commission in Toronto. For more information about pay equity, gender wage gaps and the work of the Pay Equity Office, please visit www.payequity.gov.on.ca.
