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Time for Action

Time for Action

Special Report to Parliament on Pay Equity

Executive Summary

After more than twenty years of experience with pay equity under the provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the time has come to look at the current system and make long-needed changes. In its special report to Parliament, entitled "Time for Action: Special Report to Parliament on Pay Equity", the Commission points to the gridlock occurring in the current system. It goes on to suggest the time has come for the federal government to effect changes to the system, removing the roadblocks to the effective implementation of pay equity.

Pay equity is a fundamental human right, based on the principle that men and women doing work of equal value should be paid equally. This principle of non-discrimination in wages is well-established in international human rights law and is enshrined in several human rights treaties to which Canada is a signatory, including ILO Resolution #100, known as the Equal Remuneration Convention, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act also embodies this principle.

Pay equity does not concern itself with legitimate factors that shape wages, such as supply and demand, training and seniority. Rather, it seeks to correct wage discrimination that results from ingrained perceptions about the worth of jobs -- and in particular those done mostly by women. The majority of Canadian women continue to be concentrated in low-paid, female-predominant fields. And wages for employees in these fields continue to be affected by patterns of undervaluation that are embedded in the compensation systems. As a result, there is still a gap in the average earnings of Canadian men and women working full-time.

Currently, complaints of wage discrimination submitted to the Commission are investigated and either dismissed, referred for conciliation between the parties, or forwarded to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for a hearing. Since the Canadian Human Rights Act came into force, the Commission has dealt with more than 400 pay equity complaints, most of which were filed by individuals or small groups of employees.

Experience has shown that this complaints-based approach is not well-suited to addressing forms of discrimination that are subtle, largely unintentional and integrated into complex systems - the "systemic discrimination" still found in many workplaces. The current system has proven ineffective in larger pay equity cases for several reasons, including the fact that complaints tend to lead to litigation and delays, and that employers not targeted by complaints are not required to take any initiatives on pay equity. In addition, because of the significant knowledge and resources it takes to mount major pay equity complaints, people performing female-predominant work in non-unionized, federally-regulated settings have benefited little from the federal pay equity provisions. Finally, ambiguity of standards and concepts in the provisions have resulted in disagreements between the parties and further delays in investigations and tribunal hearings. In fact, the built-in incentives and opportunities for delay are the most significant challenge for the current pay equity regime.

In its report, the Commission suggests several guiding principles for updating the current system:

• Ensure that pay equity continue to be upheld as a human right through legislation administered by a clearly mandated, independent oversight agency with sufficient resources and expertise to oversee the implementation of pay equity. This responsibility would also include receiving information from employers on actions taken to achieve pay equity, and auditing compliance.
• Develop a uniform implementation scheme that would list the steps organizations are required to achieve and maintain pay equity and stipulate time frames for each step. This scheme would not be dependent upon complaints but would apply to employers across federal jurisdiction.
• Provide clear, purposive standards and definitions with respect to what work may be compared, how it is to be compared, how any wage adjustments are to be calculated, and how adjustments are to be integrated into wages.
• Ensure employees and their bargaining agents are constructively involved in the pay equity process, to make it a collaborative undertaking based on a shared commitment to eliminating wage discrimination.
• Require information and training programs by the oversight agency and organizations covered by the law, to help demystify pay equity and smooth the implementation process.

Building on its experience with pay equity to date, and the jurisprudence that has been established, the Commission believes that updating the provisions in this way will contribute significantly to removing gender bias in compensation, and to treating people doing typically "female" work fairly. It will also reduce the economic inequalities that continue to exist in this country and help Canada meet its obligations under international human rights instruments. Canadian women and men employed in female-predominant jobs, and the many families affected by wage discrimination, deserve no less.