The federal government in a statement released just 10 days before its deadline said it has allowed itself another three years to comply with its own Pay Equity Act.All federally regulated employers were mandated to have equity plans in place by August 31, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “Creating pay equity plans in such diverse organizations is a complex undertaking requiring deep collaboration,” the Treasury Board said Tuesday. Plans for some 270,000 employees in “core public administration,” mostly women, were deferred until 2027. Equity plans for 21,000 RCMP employees were deferred until 2026. Once equity plans are in place employers have up to five additional years to adjust wages for underpaid women.“These extensions will allow the committees to complete their important work under the Pay Equity Act and ensure we get this right,” said the Treasury Board. “The government is dedicated to supporting the Act.”Further delays into the 2030s followed MPs’ complaints that enforcement was too slow.“Issues related to pay equity have been discussed in Canada for decades,” said a 2021 report by the Commons committee on the status of women, A Study On The Implementation Of The Pay Equity Act. It recommended cabinet “shorten the timelines to implement the plan.”Parliament in 2018 passed the Act that requires all federally regulated employers with more than ten employees to examine wage scales, appoint pay equity committees and compensate underpaid workers. Equity payments are not retroactive.“This means pay equity could actually potentially take until 2029, 2030,” NDP MP Lindsay Mathyssen earlier told the committee.“This is significant.”The size of the wage gap between women and men in Canada has been estimated at 74¢ to 93¢ on the dollar. Statistics Canada in a 2019 report said calculation was difficult since relatively higher pay in male-dominated industries like construction skewed figures, while women overall tended to work fewer hours.“In general the gender gap has narrowed over time,” said the StatsCan report. Analysts added much of the current gap “was unexplained.”“Wage inequality is complex,” Alison Hale, then-director of StatsCan’s labour data division, said in 2016 testimony at a Commons special committee on pay equity.“It requires analysis from a number of different perspectives.”Hale said estimates of a 74¢ wage gap often cited by media were based on annual earnings, not hourly wages, and overlooked the fact men statistically worked more hours than women – about 3.3 hours more per week on average – and were likelier to work full-time.Hale said differences in experience and seniority accounted for about 11% of the wage gap, with educational differences accounting for 4%. Based on hourly wage rates, not annual earnings, the gap is marked but narrower, Hale said.
