In its flurry of pre-election legislation, the Ontario
government has now passed the Pay Transparency Act, 2018
into law. As of January 1, 2019, employers will have new
obligations and restrictions when hiring new employees.
All employers will be:
- prohibited from asking a job applicant about their previous
compensation history
- required to include information about the expected range of
compensation in job postings
- prohibited from intimidating, dismissing or other penalizing
employees from asking questions about compensation, talking about
their own compensation or seeking the employer's compliance
with the legislation.
Some employers will also be required to file
reports with the Ministry of Labour detailing their workforce
composition and levels of compensation by gender. This obligation
will apply first to the Ontario public service, and then will be
gradually applied to employers, starting with the largest (over 250
employees) first.
