Federally Regulated Employers

The federal government is now leading the way on pay equity! The Pay Equity Act was passed at the end of 2018. The Act is paving the way for 1.2 million Canadian women in federally-regulated workplaces across the country to receive equal pay for work of equal value. 

These workplaces include:

• Federal public service;
• Parliamentary workplaces;
• Banks; 
• Telecommunication;
• Interprovincial transportation. 

Karen Jensen was appointed Pay Equity Commissioner to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Her role is to educate employers and employees and to enforce the Act. Federal employers will have to develop pay equity plans and review them every five years to ensure pay gaps have not arisen since their implementation.

The Act will come into force when all of its regulations and amendments are adopted. We are calling on the federal government to adopt the necessary regulations without any further delays!

“It’s time to guarantee to right to pay equity for workers across all jurisdictions in both the private and public sectors. We hope that the federal legislation will push all provinces to act, especially New Brunswick where women and men have been advocating for such legislation for so long. It’s our turn to act.”

— Frances LeBlanc, Chair of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity