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The Pay Equity Act applies to federally regulated employers with an average of 10 employees or more. It also applies to Parliamentary institutions through changes made to the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act.
It covers three types of workplaces:
About 5,000 federally regulated employers with an average of 10 or more employees and about 1.4 million employees are covered by the Pay Equity Act.
Employers are required, among other things, to:
Employers with fewer than 10 employees will continue to be subject to the pay equity requirements in section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Banking services by banks or authorized foreign banks.
Any water transportation of goods or passengers that involve the crossing of provincial, territorial or international borders on a regular basis. This includes:
Including airports, airfields, aerodromes, flight and air traffic controllers’ schools and airlines:
Rail transportation of goods or passengers that involve the crossing of borders on a regular basis, maintenance or other support services.
Road transportation of goods or passengers that involve the crossing of borders on a regular basis, maintenance or other support services.
Activities related to interprovincial connections, such as:
Such as those related to telecommunications (e.g. telephone, satellite and internet providers) and radio and television broadcasting.
Postal services, including courier services that cross borders and those that are essential to the work of Canada Post.
An organization or activity that has been declared by Parliament to be for the general advantage of Canada, such as:
Businesses whose activities deal with the protection of fisheries as a natural resource.
Crown corporations that perform duties on behalf of the Government of Canada – Any corporation or subsidiaries established as agents of the Crown and / or who employ employees in connection with the operation of any federal work, undertaking or business, such as:
Territories and Indigenous governing bodies:
The Act does not currently apply to the governments of Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, or Indigenous governing bodies, including First Nations Governments.
Note that pay equity in these workplaces is still protected through section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act or territorial legislation.