Employers in B.C. must include wage details on all public job ads under proposed legislation

The British Columbia government tabled a bill on pay transparency Tuesday, but advocates say the proposed legislation lacks power to make a difference for women in the workplace.

According to the province, the legislation is the first phase toward pay equity, and once passed will require employers to include wage or salary ranges on all publicly advertised jobs, and forbid employers to ask job seekers about their pay history or punish employees who disclose their pay to co-workers or job applicants.

B.C. employers will also gradually be required to publicly post reports on their gender pay gap once the legislation passes.

But while greater transparency is welcome, it will not make a significant difference on pay equity in the province, says B.C.'s human rights commissioner.

The regulation covers the B.C. Public Service Agency and Crown corporations with more than 1,000 workers — such as ICBC, B.C. Hydro, WorkSafeBC, B.C. Housing and the B.C. Lottery Corporation — by Nov. 1 this year.

The rest of employers with more than 1,000 workers will be included by the same time next year, followed by employers with more than 300 employees on Nov. 1, 2025, and employers with a staff of 50 or more in November 2026.

By June 1 of each year, B.C.'s Ministry of Finance will publish an annual report on gender pay in the province.

Kelli Paddon, B.C.'s parliamentary secretary for gender equity, said the province is committed to introducing pay equity legislation.

"Today is about drawing a line in the sand," Paddon said Tuesday. "Pay discrimination will not be tolerated in British Columbia."

B.C. still 'decades behind other provinces'

In a statement, B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender notes that the gender pay gap in the province stood at 17 per cent in 2022, one of the highest in Canada, with women and gender-diverse people in B.C. earning less than cisgender men for comparable work.

The gap is larger for people with disabilities, Indigenous people, and people of colour.

 "Pay transparency legislation by itself can provide us with more information about the problem — if it is robust enough — but if it doesn't lay the foundation for complementary pay equity legislation, we will not have the policy tools necessary to correct it," said Govender.

She adds the legislation lacks tools for enforcement such as fines or other penalties. She also cites the absence of a centralized database to assess pay gaps or changes over time.

"I am concerned that this legislation will be seen as a solution to the gender pay gap, when in reality B.C. is still decades behind other provinces," she said. 

B.C. is one of four provinces, along with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, that does not have pay transparency or pay equity legislation.

Last week, dozens of B.C. organizations, advocates and academics wrote an open letter to Premier David Eby and key cabinet ministers, calling on them to bring in a pay equity act "that enshrines in law the responsibility of all employers to identify and close gaps in pay for work of equal value."

Humera Jabir, a staff lawyer with signatory West Coast LEAF, said legislated pay transparency leaves the burden on individual employees to advocate for equal pay.

"The difference is accountability," Jabir said on CBC's On the Island.

"Transparency would require employers to report on what the systemic differences are in their organizations with respect to pay. Pay equity legislation includes accountability mechanisms, having to actually shift things, not just report on them."