Disconnecting, Pay Transparency and Pay Equity: Current Federal Legislation

Catherine Biron, CPHR, and Manuel Côté, CPHR – Lawyers at Langlois

Summary

In this article, the authors discuss various measures taken by the federal government to adapt its laws to new realities in the world of work. They specifically focus on the right to disconnect, pay transparency, and pay equity.

In recent months, federal lawmakers have made a number of efforts to adapt federal laws to new realities in the world of work, even though many of these amendments are not yet in force. What are the announced amendments concerning the right to disconnect, pay transparency, and pay equity?

Right to disconnect

The right to disconnect is a concept that seeks to strike a balance between the professional and private spheres of employees’ lives. Examples of its application include the right not to answer requests made after regular work hours and the restricted use of work-related digital tools. The right to disconnect has become a particularly topical issue due to the surge in remote work and the use of new technological tools.

Certain legislative safeguards already exist and indirectly provide some protection from being too connected to work. For instance, in Québec, the Act respecting labour standards grants employees the right to refuse to work overtime, a weekly rest period, meal breaks, and protection against psychological harassment.

However, even though the right to disconnect is already well entrenched in many European countries, Ontario is currently the only Canadian province with a law that specifically deals with disconnecting from work. While this law does not go so far as to grant workers an actual right to disconnect, it nevertheless requires Ontarian employers to create a written policy on disconnecting from work.

In the interest of expanding this concept to the federal level, federal lawmakers recently passed the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No.1. Yet, similarly to Ontario, it does not create an actual right to disconnect but rather provides for various amendments to the Canada Labour Code, including the requirement that federally regulated employers issue a policy on disconnecting from work.

Among other things, this policy will need to include a general rule on work-related communication outside of scheduled work hours, including the employer’s expectations and any opportunity for employees to disconnect from means of communication.

These new provisions are slated to come into force after an Order in Council is published by the Governor in Council, which has not yet occurred as of the date of this article’s publication. Thus, federal employers are still waiting, and we’ll have to watch what happens next. In the meantime, some federal employers are preparing to answer the questions raised by this issue and establish guidelines for their employees.

Pay transparency

Pay transparency covers a wide range of practices but generally refers to the practice of publicly disclosing compensation-related information within an organization. This concept is based on the idea that employees are legitimately entitled to know their pay as well as the pay schedules and scales in effect where they work.

In Canada, several provinces have already begun the process of legislating on pay transparency practices, including Newfoundland and Labrador (Pay Equity and Pay Transparency Act), Nova Scotia (Bill 386 – Pay Equity and Pay Transparency Act) and Prince Edward Island (Employment Standards Act). As an example, British Columbia’s Pay Transparency Act specifically provides that any publicly advertised job opportunity must specify the expected salary or wage range, where applicable. Likewise, this law protects British Columbians from reprisals when they disclose their salary and forces employers to publish an annual report presenting the pay differences between male, female and non-binary employees.

At the federal level, various laws include provisions that indirectly promote pay transparency to some extent. For instance, while the main intention behind the Pay Equity Act is to require employers subject to the Act to create a pay equity plan aimed at correcting differences in compensation, some of its provisions also contribute indirectly to improving pay transparency for members of the equity committee created for the purposes of the equity exercise. That being said, this transparency is, strictly speaking, not the same as real transparency required by law.

Even though some businesses are voluntarily adopting such practices at this time, there is no federal legislation in force that specifically deals with the pay transparency concept. That is why CHRPs, as well as labour and employment lawyers, are frequently asked questions about pay transparency, and it will be important to monitor developments in federal legislation on this issue as well.

Pay equity

The Pay Equity Act is in force, and federal employers were supposed to have formed their equity committees, established the value of their jobs, and posted their pay equity plans by September 3, 2024. Many federal employers required deadline extensions, and a large number sought assistance from law firms and compensation consultants due to the complex and somewhat technical process of establishing a pay equity plan. They will also have to update their plan in five years. In other words, federal employers will need to have and maintain a well-crafted compensation structure.

Catherine Biron (Biron, Catherine | Langlois Lawyers)

Catherine Biron, CHRP, is a partner and Head of the Labour and Employment Law group at Langlois Lawyers. She represents and supports employers in managing their human capital and handling related legal, operational, structural and strategic issues. She is recognized for her pragmatism and ability to act in complex and sensitive matters, and she boasts impressive expertise in employment law, human rights, labour relations, collective agreement negotiation and occupational health and safety. She acts for a diverse clientele of unionized and non-unionized SMEs and large businesses operating under both provincial and federal regulatory jurisdictions.

Manuel Côté (Côté, Manuel | Langlois Lawyers)

Manuel Côté, CHRP, advises and represents clients regarding various aspects of labour and employment law. He is particularly interested in labour relations in a unionized setting, including grievance arbitration, collective agreement interpretation, labour relations, negotiation and compliance with labour standards.

Source: Vigie RT, Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés du Québec, November, 2024