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ARTICLE · 02 MARCH 2023

British Columbia Introduces New Pay Transparency Legislation

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On February 15, 2023, the Government of British Columbia introduced Bill M 205 – 2023: Equal Pay Reporting Act (the Bill). This Bill creates a framework to allow the public to assess the gender pay gap...

CanadaEmployment and HR
Kailey Hubele
Kailey Hubele
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On February 15, 2023, the Government of British Columbia introduced Bill M 205 – 2023: Equal Pay Reporting Act (the Bill). This Bill creates a framework to allow the public to assess the gender pay gap of certain employers by requiring those employers to disclose the mean and median pay of male and female employees. Thus far, the Bill has received First Reading, and only limited details are available.

WHAT WE KNOW

In its current form, the Bill requires employers with more than the prescribed number of employees to disclose the mean and median pay of male and female employees to a designated registrar. If an employer meets or exceeds the prescribed threshold, gender pay gap information must also be published on the employer's website and the website designated by the registrar. To date, the BC Legislature has not introduced any regulations to accompany the Bill, so the number of employees required to trigger the disclosure obligations remains unknown.

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