Pay Equity Act: Key Points For Private Sector Employers And Considerations For M&A

Overview

The Ontario Pay Equity Act requires private sector employers to establish and maintain compensation practices that provide for pay equity in their establishment(s). For most employers, this requirement is triggered on the day they hire or hired their tenth employee.

To meet the minimum requirements and to show that pay equity has been achieved, employers MUST have carried out each of these activities for each of their establishments:

1. Determine job classes, including the gender and job rate of job classes.
2. Determine the value of job classes based on factors of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
3. Conduct comparisons for all female job classes to an equal or comparable male job class using either the job-to-job or proportional value method.