Good practice

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

Canada · Ottawa · See the Canada profile

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.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-23
Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner / Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) — accessed 2026-06-23
Government of Canada – Pay Equity Act overview — accessed 2026-06-23
CHRC Pay Equity Commissioner 2024–25 Annual Report — accessed 2026-06-23
Canadian Women's Foundation – Gender Pay Gap facts — accessed 2026-06-23

Quality score: 85/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 22% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

The proactive model was adapted from Quebec's 1996 Pay Equity Act; the EU's 2023 Pay Transparency Directive adopted a structurally identical framework, demonstrating cross-jurisdictional uptake.

Impact on gender equality1/1

Women aged 25–54 in federally regulated workplaces earn C$0.87 per dollar earned by men (2024 CHRC data); the Act now compels all ~5,000 covered employers to quantify and close that gap.

Effectiveness1/1

Authorization requests surged 2,000% (21→465) and formal disputes rose from 6 to 77 in 2024–25 (CHRC Annual Report), indicating growing employer engagement and active enforcement.

Efficiency0/1

No published cost-benefit analysis of employer compliance costs versus pay gains has been produced; efficiency remains undemonstrated.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

The Pay Equity Commissioner publishes annual reports to Parliament with verified metrics on disputes, employer compliance, and wage gap trends (CHRC Annual Report 2024–25).

Sustainability1/1

Permanent statutory regime with a dedicated Commissioner appointed in November 2023; Administrative Monetary Penalties launching 2025–26 reinforce long-term enforcement.

Achievement / evidence1/1

First federal proactive pay equity law in Canada: ~5,000 employers must now identify and remedy pay gaps rather than wait for employee complaints.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

The Act explicitly acknowledges intersecting disadvantages — specifically Black, Indigenous, racialized women and women with disabilities — widening scope beyond a binary gender comparison.

Curator validation1/1

Well-evidenced statutory practice backed by official government data and independent Pay Equity Commissioner reporting verified against two authoritative sources.

Cite this

Evidoria. Canada's Federal Pay Equity Act 2018 — Proactive Equal-Pay Regime for Federally Regulated Workplaces. Persistent ID: 05cb8ac7-9e17-40f2-9fe2-a2e463bcae7b.

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