B.C. introduces new pay transparency legislation to help close gender wage gap | 24CA News
The Province of B.C. has launched new laws requiring employers to incorporate wage ranges on job postings, and banning employers from asking candidates for pay historical past data.
In an effort to assist shut the gender pay hole within the province, employers will even not be allowed to punish staff who disclose their pay to co-workers or potential job candidates.
In addition, B.C. employers will progressively be required to publicly publish stories on their gender pay hole.
It will begin this November with Public Service Agency and massive Crown corps, together with ICBC, BC Hydro, WorkSafeBC, BC Housing, BC Lottery Corporation and BC Transit.
All employers with 1,000 staff or extra might be required to publish stories by November 2024, these with 300 staff or extra in November 2025, and all employers with over 50 staff might be required to by November 2026.
“People deserve equal pay for equal work. We’ve been taking action to close the pay gap since 2017 with investments in child care and training, and increases to the minimum wage. Today, we’re taking the next step – all employers need to be transparent about what people are being paid to close the pay gap between men and women,” mentioned Kelli Paddon, parliamentary secretary for gender fairness.
“We’re determined to continue our engagement with all of our partners to close the pay gap and ensure people get the fair payment they deserve.”
The laws launched Tuesday follows engagement with Indigenous companions, business associations, organized labour, worker associations, employment and authorized advocates, municipalities, and the non-profit and public sectors.
The aim can be to make sure that addressing the pay hole goes past the gender binary, a primary of its type strategy in accordance with the province.
The pay hole additionally disproportionately impacts Indigenous ladies, ladies of color and immigrant ladies, in addition to ladies with disabilities and non-binary individuals.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2022 ladies in B.C. earned 17 per cent lower than males. Average hourly wages for males had been $35.50 whereas ladies earned a mean wage of $29.53 per hour, with the hole growing for Indigenous, racialized and newcomer ladies.
Statistics Canada says Indigenous ladies working full time earned a mean of $26.74 per hour, seen minority ladies earned a mean of $27.44 per hour and Immigrant ladies earned a mean of $28.78 per hour.
The Ministry of Finance will publish an annual report annually on gender pay within the province and extra rules are being developed for employers in an effort to present them with extra particulars on the reporting necessities.
With new reporting rules, B.C. will even take a look at methods demographic knowledge will be safely collected from staff.
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