On 25 November 2020 the government announced amendments to the Employment Equity Regulations which introduce pay transparency measures for federally regulated private sector employers with 100 or more employees. The amendments to the regulations entered into force on 1 January 2021.

Along with the previously announced proposed regulations to the Pay Equity Act, the amendments will support the government's pay transparency initiatives. The regulations aim to further address the wage gap that affects women, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities (the 'designated groups' under the Employment Equity Act).

Private sector employers which are covered by the Employment Equity Act are now subject to new requirements as a result of the regulatory amendments to the regulations, including as follows:

  • Employers must record salary data about their employees on an annual basis regarding:
    • salary;
    • the period over which the salary was paid (the reporting period);
    • the number of hours worked attributable to the salary paid;
    • bonus payments made during the reporting period; and
    • any overtime worked and paid out during the reporting period.
  • Once the salary data is collected, and by 1 June 2022, employers must include aggregated wage gap information in their annual employment equity reports. This information will be made public via publication in the federal Ministry of Labour's Employment Equity Act: Annual Report for 2022. The information will also be included in an online application which is currently under development.

Other amendments to the regulations include an expanded definition of 'salary' which will introduce a number of data points that employers may submit when reporting employee salary information. Further, definitions for 'overtime pay', 'overtime hours' and 'bonuses' will be included in the regulations.

In addition, the definitions of designated groups included in the workplace questionnaire provided to employees pursuant to the regulations are being amended. The questionnaire requests that employees self-identify as members of the designated groups under the Employment Equity Act. Prior to the regulatory amendments, the definitions included in the questionnaire had to be consistent with the definitions set out in the Employment Equity Act. Following the regulatory amendments, the definitions included in the workplace questionnaire must be identical to the definitions provided for in the Employment Equity Act.