Who is covered
The Act covers any business that averages 10 or more employees in Quebec over a calendar year.1 Your headcount sets what it asks of you, as set out in the Pay Equity Act.
| Employees | What the Act asks |
|---|---|
| 10 to 49 | Work out whether pay adjustments are owed, and pay them. |
| 50 to 99 | Draw up a pay equity program. |
| 100 or more | Draw up the program with a pay equity committee. |
You have four years to finish, counted from the day the Act starts to apply to your business.5 A pay equity consultant can do the work: you send the figures and receive the file, ready to post.
What you post
When the exercise is done, you post the results for 60 days where every employee can see them.6 The notice lists the job classes you used, how you compared them and any adjustments to pay.
During those 60 days, employees can ask for details or send comments. Within 30 days after that, you post a second notice for 60 days. It sets out the changes you made, or says there were none.7
Maintenance, every five years
Every five years you confirm that pay equity still holds in your business. The Act calls this the maintenance assessment.8 You review what changed since the last one: jobs created or modified, job classes, pay. Any adjustment owed gets paid.
You post the results the same way as the first time, with the same 60 days for employee questions.9, 10 With no committee, employees first need the chance to take part, and that step closes at least 60 days before posting.11 To have it done, see pay equity maintenance.
The CNESST declaration
The CNESST, Quebec's labour standards and pay equity board, also requires an employer declaration on pay equity. You enter the date you posted your results, first for the initial exercise, then for each maintenance. The declaration is due every year.12
If a CNESST letter arrives
A CNESST letter generally asks you to show that the exercise is done and its results posted. For a documented reply, ready to send, see reply to a CNESST letter, from $1,800.
To do the exercise yourself, the app's pay equity tool assesses your job classes, calculates the adjustments and prepares the notice to post.