BC’s Pay Transparency Act
Last week, on May 11th, Premier Eby’s NDP government passed a new Pay Transparency Act. The Bill aims to narrow the pay gap between gender-diverse people and cisgender men. The province of British Columbia has one of the most significant intersectional pay gaps in Canada (second only to Alberta). On average, those who self-identify as women, or as gender-diverse, earn 17% less than those who self-identify as cisgender men. Revealingly, a cross-country analysis demonstrates that the three provinces without any pay equity laws (BC, Alberta, and Newfoundland) rank the lowest in pay equity.
The new bill is intended to shift the informational imbalance away from employers and in favour of job applicants and employees. Employers will face new restrictions on their ability to question applicants on their previous pay levels. Most importantly, employers will be required to post the expected pay range for publicly advertised job opportunities. The Pay Transparency Act includes new protections for intra-company transparency and communication: employees will no longer be penalized for revealing their pay to their coworkers or new applicants, asking about pay or pay transparency, and/or providing payment information to the Director of Pay Transparency. Finally, some employers will be required to complete and post-pay transparency reports. There is a progressive structure to the coming into force of this transparency mechanism: the largest companies must comply with the most accelerated timelines, and smaller employers (between 50-100) will be required to start posting pay reports by 2026. (The smallest employers, which employ less than 50 employees, are exempt).
Pay Transparency and Gender-Based Discrimination
The discussion paper that accompanied BC’s Pay Transparency Act outlined the intended positive relationship between the enactment of this law and rectifying the province’s intersectional gender pay gap. In essence, by exposing gender-based disparities through new public disclosure tools, the BC government hopes to encourage employers to identify and rectify internal, discriminatory disparities in compensation. Workers will also be equipped with new financial data, which might empower employees to self-advocate and become atomized actors of change.
Critics of BC’s Pay Transparency Act
The social impact of this legislation on systemic gender-based discrimination in the labour force has been roundly questioned. British Columbia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Kasari Govender, argued that this pay legislation “lacks the approach necessary to make a significant difference on pay equity in the province.” Firstly, the legislation does not enforce fines, or penalties, on employers who fail to comply with its transparency requirements — rendering compliance essentially voluntary. Secondly, it does not create a centralized public database, which will stymie system-level data gathering, aggregation, and analysis.
The Benefits of Gender Equity Legislation
Other non-profit actors have called on the BC government to introduce intersectional pay equity legislation. Pay equity legislation guarantees the right to equal pay, and includes more robust enforcement mechanisms. The efficacy of BC’s Pay Transparency Act will depend, in part, on employees taking the initiative to self-advocate for equity. As such, the government is placing an undue social burden on women — including Black and Indigenous women, gender-diverse people, and persons with disabilities. Pay equity legislation, in contrast, compels employers (who are the power-dominant players in employer-employee relational dynamics) to diminish the pay gap.
Inter-Jurisdictional Analysis
Many third-party actors have noted that BC’s legislation fails to keep pace with federal-level legislation. The Pay Equity Act, which passed on December 13, 2018, had much more teeth. Under this Liberal bill, federally regulated employers were forced to ensure that workers receive equal pay for work of equal value. The legislation’s civic impact is limited: most workers in Canada are provincially regulated, and thereby unaffected by these federal reforms. Federalism has contributed to Canada’s piecemeal approach and significant inter-provincial inequities.
BC’s Next Steps
British Columbia has taken a step in the right direction, but more robust action is necessary. Introducing gender equity legislation, in tandem with other labour reforms (including implementing affordable child care), would build a more holistic approach. If BC is serious about rectifying its second-lowest performance in Canada’s pay equity rankings, new enforcement tools are needed. In the meantime, women and gender-diverse British Columbians will, in all likelihood, continue to experience unjustifiable systemic discrimination—earning, on average, 83 cents to the dollar.
Long story short: the Pay Transparency Act successfully ‘minds the gap.’ Now, it’s time to close it.
Please close the gap.
