N.L. public sector pay equity legislation earns mixed reviews from stakeholders, opposition
CBC
The Newfoundland and Labrador government has unveiled details of its long-awaited pay equity legislation — to mixed reviews from opposition members and stakeholders.
If passed, the new bill will mandate pay equity — but only in the public sector. Public bodies will be required to implement compensation practices which value jobs based on four criteria: skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
At a news conference on Monday, where she was joined by Finance Minister Siobhan Coady and Labour Minister Bernard Davis, Women and Gender Equality Minister Pam Parsons said the legislation is a "tool" to address the gender wage gap in Newfoundland and Labrador.
"Pay equity legislation will enshrine in law the equitable pay practices that core government has been doing for years," she said.
The legislation will apply to all public bodies, except employers with fewer than 10 employees. The legislation also will not apply to students, contractual employees, the judiciary, MHAs or people conducting investigations on behalf of the House of Assembly.
The legislation will come into effect on April 1 for core government, which Coady said employs about 10,000 people. She said core government is already 85 per cent compliant with pay equity because of its job evaluation system, which was implemented in 2015.
She said the change on April 1 will affect about 1,300 employees.
"We will take the practices that guide our job evaluation system and make them law," she said.
Coady said other public bodies are "at various stages of compliance" with pay equity. The legislation does not set a date for when other public bodies will have to comply with the new rules, but Coady said the provincial government plans to complete the process "expeditiously."
Once the legislation has come into effect, public bodies will have to submit compliance reports to a pay equity officer, appointed under the Public Service Commission Act, who in turn will have to submit reports to the House of Assembly.
In 2017, the provincial government unanimously voted on a private member's bill to begin the process of enacting pay equity legislation. The government struck an interdepartmental committee to explore the legislation, but didn't take any further action for five years.
This summer, Premier Andrew Furey said the provincial government would introduce "progressive" pay equity legislation. Parsons, Coady and Davis all said they believed the legislation is progressive.
Newfoundland and Labrador is one of just four provinces without such legislation. Ontario and Quebec are the only two provinces with pay equity legislation covering the private sector.
Parsons, Davis and Coady did not say when the new rules will come into effect for other public bodies.
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