The British Columbia Pay Transparency Act was introduced in Bill 13 and passed on May 11, 2023. This Act places requirements on employers which are intended to close gender pay gaps and address workplace discrimination.

There are a number of key obligations and dates contained in the Act:

Pay Transparency Discussions

Effective now, employers in BC can no longer:

  • Ask job applicants about how much they have been paid at positions with other employers.
  • Dismiss, suspend, demote, discipline or harass an employee who:
    • Asks about their pay
    • Reveals their pay to another employee or applicant
    • Asks the employer about its pay transparency report
    • Gives information to the Director of Pay Transparency about their employer

Effective now, employers in BC can still:

  • Use pay history information about employees to determine pay for new positions
  • Rely on publicly accessible information on pay for similar positions

Job Postings

Effective now, employers in BC must include the expected pay or the expected pay range for specific job opportunities that they advertise publicly.

If a job posting is general in nature (i.e. a general recruitment campaign or a “help wanted” poster or the posting is not publicly posted, then it is not subject to this requirement.

The requirement applies to non-BC jurisdictions if the position is open to BC residents and may be filled in-person or remotely by someone living in BC.

There is currently no restriction on the size of pay range that can be included, though the provincial Government has indicated that it intends to introduce requirements related to pay range.

Pay Transparency Reports

Employers of a certain size are required to prepare and publish transparency reports and post them on a public website or another publicly reviewable medium. These reporting requirements will be phased in over four years, depending on the number of employees as follows:

  • November 1, 2023 – BC Government and the six largest Crown corporations, which are BC Hydro, BC Housing, BC Lottery Corp, BC Transit, ICBC, and Work Safe BC.
  • November 1, 2024 – All employers with 1,000 employees or more.
  • November 1, 2025 – All employers with 300 employees or more.
  • November 1, 2026 – All employers with 50 employees or more

The reports will be required to show gaps in pay for certain groups. The Government will provide reporting tools to assist employers in preparing the reports.

We expect further updates to this legislation over the coming years.

 

Written by: Chris Brien, CPA, CA

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