Master the essential first steps to navigate federal mandates, establish your committee, and lay the groundwork for a compliant and equitable compensation strategy.
Canada’s Pay Equity Act has fundamentally changed how federally regulated employers must address compensation fairness—shifting from reactive complaints to a proactive legal and compliance framework requiring employers to identify, assess, and correct gender-based wage gaps through formal pay equity plans and ongoing maintenance obligations.
Presented as a practical two-part webinar series delivered across consecutive days, this program features insights from Amanda Popowicz-Soni, Senior Policy Analyst, Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission. The sessions will provide participants with direct guidance on how the legislation is being interpreted, implemented, and enforced in practice.
Through a detailed, implementation-focused discussion, participants will explore employer obligations under the Pay Equity Act, including pay equity committee requirements, compensation comparisons, plan development and posting obligations, adjustment timelines, maintenance reviews, record-keeping expectations, and compliance risk management. The webinar will also examine practical challenges organizations are encountering during implementation, regulatory expectations from the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner, and strategies for developing sustainable and transparent pay equity systems that align with statutory obligations and broader workplace equity objectives.
Part 1 Key Topics Discussed:
Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner
In Canada, the Pay Equity Act has been in force since August 31, 2021. The Act ensures equal pay for work of equal value and calls on federally regulated employers to proactively implement pay equity within their workplaces. The Pay Equity Commissioner administers and enforces the Pay Equity Act by leading the Pay Equity Unit, within the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The Pay Equity Unit resolves disputes, ensures compliance with the Act, and provides tools and guidance to employers, employees and their representatives. We are also the go-to for regulatory and policy expertise related to compliance and enforcement of the Pay Equity Act.
Senior Policy Analyst, Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission
Amanda joined the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner in 2020 and has been working on advancing pay equity in federally regulated workplaces since then. Prior, she worked at the Labour Program in various roles, including doing research and crafting policy concerning workplace violence and harassment which contributed to legislative changes in the Canada Labour Code. Her focus has always been on matters pertaining to gender equality. She was a joint lead during her time at the Labour Program’s Innovation Unit for the 2019 Symposium on Women in the Workplace. She also worked at the Gender Based Analysis Centre of Expertise and coordinated ESDCs first submission on Gender Budgeting.
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