- Ontario to join the movement. Ontario is set to become the third Canadian province to implement a pay transparency law, joining Prince Edward Island and British Columbia.
- Two potential wrinkles. Ontario's law requiring salary ranges on job postings could only apply to jobs under $100,000 and it might require employers to disclose whether AI is used during the hiring process.
- Reporting aspects. British Columbia’s pay transparency law will also require employers in the province to prepare a public pay transparency report each year.
The pay transparency movement, already taking hold in the United States and Europe, is emerging in Canada as well.
Ontario is poised to pass a law that will require employers to disclose wages or salary ranges on job postings, joining two other Canadian provinces, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, which enacted pay transparency laws in the past two years.
Ontario’s legislation will be front and center when Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP) return to work next week, CTV News reports.
Lulu Seikaly, senior corporate attorney at Payscale, noted that pay transparency laws are “sweeping the world one country at a time,” and she doesn’t see the trend abating any time soon. For example, a number of entities across the U.S. now are requiring employers to list a salary range on job postings.
“In the U.S., we’ve seen over a dozen states propose some sort of pay transparency law in 2022 alone,” Seikaly said, adding that looking beyond the U.S. to the European Union, each of the 27 members are expected to pass laws that comply with the EU Pay Transparency Directive. In Australia and New Zealand, there also is movement on pay transparency, she noted.
Two Potential New Wrinkles in Ontario Law
While the particulars have not been laid out yet, Ontario does not seem to be “reinventing the wheel,” Seikaly said, adding that the Ontario government has hinted that it will require employers to include the expected salary range for a role, and possibly only require that for job roles that pay under $100,000.
“This requirement is something we haven’t seen in other pay transparency laws,” she said.
Seikaly said the expectation is the Ontario government will table this legislation on Nov. 14 as part of the amendments to the Working for Workers Act.
“We are a while away from any specific law being enacted in Ontario because there will be a consultation period before any new requirements are finalized,” she said.
In addition to the potential $100,000 ceiling on the Ontario law, Seikaly said there are also discussions that the proposed legislation will require employers to disclose whether they use artificial intelligence (AI) during the hiring process. If an employer uses AI to scan resumes or job applications, employers will have to disclose that to candidates in job postings.
“This is the first disclosure of its kind that we’ve seen in any pay transparency laws globally,” she said. “If passed, I imagine we will see states like California and maybe even Washington follow suit.”
Canada’s Pay Transparency Landscape
An analysis from employment law firm Littler Mendelson P.C. noted that British Columbia’s recent pay transparency law requires covered employers to prepare and make public a pay transparency report in addition to complying with providing salary ranges on job postings.
The regulation provides that reporting employers “must make reasonable efforts to collect prescribed gender information from their employees,” and clarifies what information must be included in a pay transparency report. The Act also provides that “reporting employers” and must publish it on a publicly accessible website as soon as practical after the report’s completion.
If the employer does not have a publicly accessible website, according to Littler’s analysis, the British Columbia regulations indicate it must make a copy of the report available to its employees in at least “one conspicuous place in each of its workplaces and make a copy available to any member of the public who requests one.”
Seikaly said given British Columbia’s guidance and the expected conditions of Ontario’s pay transparency laws, organizations with operations in Canada should begin preparations to comply.
“We will have to wait and see the exact requirements in Ontario,” Seikaly said. “But in the meantime, it is advisable for Ontario employers to start leveling their jobs, benchmark their roles and conduct pay equity analyses to prepare to post salary ranges publicly on their job postings.”
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