Ministers' Offices Grouped for Pay Equity

Summary#

This is a proposed Order and related regulatory changes to make all federal ministers’ offices take part in one single pay equity plan for their staff. The proposal, published February 10, 2024, would bring small ministerial offices into the pay equity regime and change how pay gaps for ministerial staff are handled.

What it does#

• Groups all ministers’ offices together under the Order Grouping Ministers’ Offices for the Purpose of a Pay Equity Plan so they use one shared pay equity plan that automatically includes any new ministerial offices.
• Makes every ministers’ office subject to the Pay Equity Act, even if it has fewer than 10 staff, so more ministerial staff are covered.
• Applies the same rules that already exist for groups of employers to the grouped ministers’ offices.
• Gives the grouped ministers’ offices three years (not five) to prepare or update their pay equity plan, to fit better with election and Cabinet cycles.
• Requires any pay increases identified by the plan to be paid in a lump sum the day after the plan is posted; ministers’ offices could not “phase in” the payments over time.
• Adapts the proposed administrative penalties system so small ministers’ offices are placed in the same penalty range as offices with 10 to 99 staff.
• The government says the Order and the related Regulations are intended to come into force together in spring 2024 (or, for the Order, on the day it is registered).

Who's affected#

• Ministerial staff in all federal ministers’ offices — including those in very small offices who were not previously covered by the Act.
• Ministers’ offices themselves, which will share responsibility for one combined pay equity plan.
• The Canadian Human Rights Commission, which administers and enforces the Act and would interact with the grouped ministers’ offices as one entity.
• The changes are estimated to affect between 2 and 5 ministers’ offices that currently have fewer than 10 staff, and the government expects there to be about 39 ministers' offices included in the group overall.
• The proposal says costs for any required pay adjustments would be less than $1 million per year in total.

Why it matters#

• More ministerial staff would be protected by proactive pay equity rules. That can mean pay increases for staff in predominantly female job classes who were previously outside the Act’s scope.
• One shared plan aims to make pay-equity decisions consistent across different ministers’ offices. That reduces the chance that staff doing similar work for different ministers get different treatment.
• Requiring lump-sum payments means the office that created the plan pays the full amount, rather than spreading costs over time or leaving unpaid amounts when a ministry changes.
• There could be a small, short-term increase in payroll costs (the government estimates under $1 million per year), but also administrative savings from having a single plan and single reporting process.
• This is a proposal (not yet final). The Canada Gazette notice invites comments for 30 days after publication.