The right to pay equity in your workplace

Pay equity must be respected in all workplaces. Employers must ensure they fulfil their pay equity obligations. The CNESST supports employers in fulfilling their obligations. It also helps workers ensure their rights are respected. As a worker, you also have a role to play.

Your employer’s obligations

Your employer has obligations with respect to pay equity (in French only). They must:

• calculate the number of workers in their company (in French only) to find out the annual average number of workers in their company. When this average reaches 10 or more workers, they must:
  • do an initial pay equity exercise and inform all staff by posting the results (in French only)
  • do a pay equity audit (in French only) in the company every 5 years and post the results
  • file the employer’s pay equity report (in French only)

What pay equity work means

Pay equity work assesses and compares (in French only) typically female jobs with typically male jobs and adjusts the wages of female jobs (in French only) upwards if wage differences (in French only) are found. If you are in a typically female job, you may receive a pay adjustment as a result of pay equity work done by your employer.

Every 5 years, your employer does a pay equity audit to ensure that new wage gaps have not been created over the years. If necessary, they must correct them by making pay adjustments.

To find out about the status of pay equity in your workplace, please contact the staff at our Client Relations Centre.

Your role in pay equity

Even if it is your employer who has to achieve pay equity, you can actively participate in the pay equity process in the company where you work. You can:

• provide your employer with information about your duties to help them assess your job (in French only)
• become a member of a pay equity committee (in French only) or take part in a participation process
• read the various postings (in French only) that your employer or the pay equity committee is required to make and provide comments or ask for additional information
• exercise the recourses provided for in the Act

Your recourses

If you believe that your rights are not being enforced or respected, you may file a confidential complaint about:

• an initial pay equity exercise, whether completed or not
• a pay equity audit, whether completed or not
• reprisals
• prohibited conduct

If the company you work for has fewer than 10 workers and you think that your pay equity rights are not being respected, you may file a complaint under article 19 de la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne.