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Good practice Imported

Canada's Federal Pay Equity Act 2018 — Proactive Equal-Pay Regime for Federally Regulated Workplaces

Canada · Ottawa · See the Canada profile · See the Ottawa profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 29% 85/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Canada's Pay Equity Act (2018, in force Aug 2021) shifts pay equity from complaint-based to proactive: ~5,000 federally regulated employers covering 1.4 million workers must build pay equity plans and close identified gaps within prescribed timelines.

~5,000 covering ~1.4 million workers
Employers covered
21 to 465
Employer authorisation requests (2024-25)
C$0.87 per $1
Gender pay gap, federally regulated workplaces (ages 25-54) (2024)

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner / Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC)
Period
2018–ongoing
Keywords
legislation, labour market, federal, equal pay, anti-discrimination

Context

Canada's Pay Equity Act, in force since 31 August 2021, established the country's first federal proactive pay-equity regime, requiring roughly 5,000 federally regulated employers (about 1.4 million workers) to build pay-equity plans identifying and closing gaps between male- and female-dominated job classes within five years.

Results

In 2024-25, the Pay Equity Commissioner reported a 2,000% increase in employer authorisation requests (from 21 to 465), 77 formal disputes filed (versus 6 the prior year), and 679 information inquiries -- signs of growing awareness and active enforcement. As of 2024, women aged 25-54 in federally regulated workplaces earn C$0.87 for every dollar earned by men, a gap wider still for Black, Indigenous, racialised and disabled women.

Conclusions

The model mirrors Quebec's 1996 Pay Equity Act and is structurally similar to the EU's Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970/EU), which all 27 member states must transpose by 2026. Administrative Monetary Penalties are expected to launch in 2025-26, strengthening enforcement further.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

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Data sources

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