Pay Equity Act Applies to Ministers' Offices

Summary#

These are proposed rules called the Application of the Pay Equity Act to Ministers’ Offices Regulations. They would make a specific group of federal ministers’ offices subject to the Pay Equity Act, treating those offices as a single employer for pay-equity purposes. The public can comment for 30 days after publication (publication date: February 10, 2024).

What it does#

• Says the grouping named in the Order Grouping Ministers’ Offices for the Purpose of a Pay Equity Plan becomes subject to the Pay Equity Act and is treated as a single employer by the Pay Equity Commissioner on the day that Order comes into force.
• Adds a special rule that if a new Prime Minister is appointed, the grouping becomes subject to the Act on the date of that appointment.
• Stops a posted pay equity plan from applying to ministers in the grouping when a new Prime Minister is appointed.
• Says if a new minister is appointed but the Prime Minister stays the same, the existing posted plan is treated as having been posted by the new minister — and that minister takes on the same obligations.
• Removes certain parts of the Act (specifically subsections 61(2) and 62(4) and sections 63 and 113) so they do not apply to the grouping.
• Changes how employee counts are calculated for the grouping when deciding whether it has 100 or more employees: the rules use the sum of the averages of each employer’s employee counts in a specified fiscal year.
• Adapts timing rules so each employer in the grouping must post a revised final pay equity plan no later than a three-year maximum after certain posting dates.
• Adapts rules on lump-sum payments, and on how penalties and averages are calculated under related Pay Equity Regulations, to fit the grouped ministers’ offices context.
• Says the regulations would come into force on the day they are registered (no fixed calendar date is given).

Who's affected#

• Employees who work in federal ministers’ offices that are part of the grouping named in the related Order.
• The ministers whose offices are in that grouping and their hiring/HR staff.
• The Pay Equity Commissioner, because the Commissioner will recognize the grouping as a single employer for enforcement and oversight.
• Unions or bargaining agents representing staff in those ministers’ offices may be affected by how penalties and compliance rules are applied.

It is not spelled out in this notice exactly which ministers’ offices are in the grouping; that is set out in the separate Order referenced here.

Why it matters#

• Treating ministers’ offices as a single employer for pay equity changes who is responsible for making and updating pay equity plans. That can affect how quickly pay gaps are identified and fixed.
• The special rules around a change of Prime Minister or minister affect when plans stop or shift to new office-holders. That matters for employees whose pay-equity rights and any back payments (lump sums) are tied to those plans and posting dates.
• The adaptations to employee-count and penalty rules change which procedural thresholds apply (for example, whether the grouping is treated as having 100 or more employees), which can affect timelines and enforcement.
• Because this is a proposed regulation, the public and interested parties have 30 days from February 10, 2024 to comment before the government decides whether to make it final.