All BC employers will be required to include transparent salary information in publicly advertised jobs starting in November 2023.
โPeople deserve equal pay for equal work,โ said Kelli Paddon, Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equality. โEnsuring that transparent salary or salary information is included in all job offers helps ensure that people are offered the same salary for the same work. โIn addition to historic investments in child care and employment and training, this is another step forward as we continue to take action to address the pay gap.โ
Starting Wednesday, November 1, 2023, BC employers will be required to include salary information on all publicly posted jobs under the BC Pay Transparency Act, which became law this year.
The law means that BC employers can no longer ask prospective employees for information about their salary history or punish employees who disclose their salary to co-workers or potential job applicants.
โEnsuring employers are transparent about workers' wages is the step we are taking,โ said Labor Minister Harry Bains. โThis, along with other measures such as increasing the overall minimum wage and eliminating the unfair minimum wage for liquor servers, which primarily affected women, brings us closer to closing the gender pay gap in British Columbia.โ
While improvements in the wage gap can be seen in recent years, according to Statistics Canada, women in British Columbia earn 17% less than men. The pay gap disproportionately affects indigenous women, visible minority women, and immigrant women. While the median hourly wage for men was $35.50 last year, Indigenous women earned an average of $26.74 per hour, visible minority women earned an average of $27.44 per hour, and Immigrant women earned an average of $28.78 per hour.
โThe WORTH Association, which represents women in the recreation, tourism and hospitality sector, believes the Pay Transparency Act is a positive first step toward a more equitable industry,โ said Sloan Vereecken, CEO of Women of Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality. โAs our sector faces a jobs crisis, we believe this measure will attract and retain more women, ensuring they receive fair remuneration for their work. Pay transparency in British Columbia will also help rectify historical pay disparities and empower women to negotiate fair pay, fostering a more equitable work environment.โ
The pay gap likely affects people across the gender spectrum, including non-binary, transgender, and Two Spirit people. For this reason, the objective is to ensure that the analysis of the wage gap goes beyond the gender binary. BC will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt this approach.
Also starting in November 2023, large and medium-sized employers in British Columbia will be required to gradually publish reports on their gender pay gap. This requirement is being phased in so that the Province can work with employers and give them time to prepare, as follows:
- November 1, 2023: BC Public Service Agency and Crown corporations and public agencies with more than 1,000 employees (ICBC, BC Hydro, WorkSafeBC, BC Housing, BC Lottery Corporation and BC Transit)
- November 1, 2024: All employers with 1,000 or more employees
- November 1, 2025: All employers with 300 or more employees
- November 1, 2026: All employers with 50 or more employees
Regulations have been developed to provide employers with more details on the new reporting requirements and these will be refined each year based on feedback from employers. In developing these requirements, BC is looking at ways to securely collect demographic data using the Province's sex and gender data standard. in accordance with the new Anti-Racism Data Law.
Learn more:
To learn more about the Salary Transparency Law, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/pay-transparency-laws-in-bc
For salary guidance or salary information for employers, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/wage-or-salary-information-on-job-postings
To read the March 7, 2023 press release introducing the pay transparency legislation, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023FIN0017-000274
To view Statistics Canada's gender wage statistics for 2022, visit: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410034002
If you have questions about pay transparency requirements, please email paytransparency@gov.bc.ca.
