Labour and Employment Law Blog

The B.C. Pay Transparency Act (the “PTA”) came into force on May 11, 2023. On October 23, 2023, the Pay Transparency Regulation (the “Regulation”) was made and provides needed clarity on the content of annual pay transparency reports.

The goal of the PTA is to help close the gender pay gap by addressing systemic gender discrimination in the workplace. The PTA applies to all provincially regulated employers in B.C.

Key provisions in the PTA are:

• Duty for employers to publish salary or wage information in publicly advertised job postings (effective date: November 1, 2023);
• Prohibition on asking job applicants about pay history (effective date: May 11, 2023);
• Prohibition against retaliation (effective date: May 11, 2023); and
• Reporting requirements for certain employers (effective date varies, see below).

This blog focuses on what information applicable employers are required to include in pay transparency reports (“Reports”). For a more detailed summary of employer obligations under the PTA, see our previous blog posts.

Reports are due on November 1 of each year. Reports must be distributed to all employees and published on a publicly accessible website, among other things. The reporting requirements apply to B.C. employers with the following number of employees on January 1 of the applicable year:

• 2024: 1,000 employees or more.
• 2025: 300 employees or more.
• 2026: 50 employees or more.
• Years after 2026: more than the lesser of 49 and any prescribed number.

Collecting Information & Categorizing Employees

Employers must make reasonable efforts to collect information about each employee’s gender identity. Employee disclosure of this information is voluntary. Based on the information collected, employees will fall into one of four “gender categories”: (i) Man, (ii) Woman, (iii) Non-binary, or (iv) Unknown for an employee who does not identify as any of the three aforementioned options or does not wish to share their gender information.

Employers must also determine a “reference category” according to the following guidelines:

• “Man”: if there are more than 10 employees in the gender category “Man;”
• “Unknown”: if there are fewer than 10 employees in the gender category “Man” and more than 10 employees in the gender category “Unknown;”
• “Non-binary”: if there are fewer than 10 employees in both the “Man” and “Unknown” categories and more than 10 employees in the “Non-binary” gender category; and
• No reference category: if there are fewer than 10 employees in each of the categories “Man,” “Non-binary” and “Unknown.”

In order to comply with the PTA reporting requirements, Reports must include basic information as well as detailed pay transparency information.

Information Required in the Report:

Basic Information

Employers must include the following basic information in the Report:

• The name and mailing address of the reporting employer.
• The applicable NAICS code. A NAICS code classifies an organization’s industry according to a standardized system. Employers can find their NAICS code by visiting Statistics Canada.
• The start and end dates of the reporting period.
• The number of employees as of January 1 in the year the report was prepared.
• The reference category, as discussed above, that applies in the report.

Pay Information

Reporting employers must complete several calculations using gender and wage information to identify discrepancies in their compensation practices. The Regulation sets out detailed instructions for each calculation. Employers must include the following pay information in the Report:

• The difference between the median and mean hourly rate of pay of employees in the reference category compared to employees in each of the other gender categories.
• The difference between the median and mean amount of overtime pay of employees in the reference category compared to employees in each of the other gender categories.
• The difference between the median and mean number of overtime hours worked by employees in the reference category worked compared to employees in each of the other gender categories.
• The difference between the median and mean amount of bonus pay of the employees in the reference category compared to employees in each of the other gender categories.
• The percentage of employees in each gender category that received overtime pay during the reporting period.
• The percentage of employees in each gender category that received bonus pay during the reporting period.
• The distribution of employees in each gender category across the pay scale according to a ranking formula.

Where a reporting employer identifies gender categories with fewer than 10 employees or has only one gender category with more than 10 employees, the Report must not include certain information.

If you would like more information about the PTA or have any questions about how the PTA may affect your workplace, please contact a member of our Labour, Employment & Human Rights Group.