Pay Equity Portals

Pay Equity Portal

The Pay Equity Portal is an online platform that allows you – employees, bargaining agents and employers – to submit information and authorization requests and interact with Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner on matters related to the Pay Equity Act.

Access the Pay Equity Portal

To use the Portal, you need to create an account. Please read our Privacy Notice before accessing the Portal.

To create an account:

navigate to the Pay Equity Portal
select "Register"
select "Sign up now" at the bottom of the page
enter your email address and select "Send a verification code" to confirm your email
if you have not received the verification code within ten minutes, please check your junk folder
enter the verification code from your email and fill in the remaining information
select "Create" once complete to create your account

To login to your account:

navigate to the Pay Equity Portal
select "Login"
enter the email address and password associated with your account and select "Sign in"

Guidance for using the Pay Equity Portal

Important terms

A case may be a request for information or an authorization request.

An affected workplace party is any party that can be involved in a case. There are different categories of workplace parties:

bargaining agent (a union)
non-unionized employees (a group or individual)
employer/group of employers
employee/employee representative

Submit your request for information or authorization request

When you start your request for information or authorization request in the Portal, you can choose to save a draft version if it is not ready to be submitted. Simply:

select "Save form" at the bottom of the form. It has not yet been submitted to the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner.

You can modify your draft form until you are ready to submit.

Submit your case

To submit your case, you need to:

navigate to the summary tab in your case
review your request on the summary page ensuring you have completed your form and added all of the information that has been requested
once you are ready to submit, select the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page, which will alert the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner of your request/application

Once your case has been submitted, the status will read “Submitted - Waiting for PEO Review”. This means that the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner will review your case to make sure it includes the basic information for assessment. You will receive an email confirming your submission.

Add an affected workplace party

A requestor needs to add all workplace parties that might be affected by their authorization request (e.g., bargaining agent, or group of non-unionized employees, etc.).

To add an affected workplace party:

select your case
navigate to the party information tab
under the header titled "Additional parties" select "Add a workplace party"
enter the legal name of the affected workplace party (name of organization, entity, or certified bargaining agent, e.g., ABC Airlines Union), not the name of an individual, and the e-mail address for the individual who should receive the invitation
once the individual has accepted the invitation, their name will appear in the case
- only invite one representative per workplace party. The initial representative invited to the case will be able to add up to two additional representatives to their workplace party. (e.g., sending an email to "Amal" in the step above will add them as the representative for ABC Airlines Union. Once Amal accepts the invitation, they can add Morgan and Samar to ABC Airlines Union, if they choose)
select "Submit" to save the information for this affected workplace party

The Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner will review the affected workplace parties listed in the case and send the invitations.

Add a representative

The requestor and each workplace party who accepts an invitation to join a case can have up to three (3) representatives for their workplace party.

To add a representative:

navigate to the Party information tab of your case
locate your workplace party and select "Invite a representative"
complete the full name, title and e-mail address of the person you wish to add to your workplace party as a representative
select "Submit" to send the invitation

Documents

You can upload and download documents in a case. All parties can view and download any documents in a case.

To download a document:

navigate to the document tab in your case
select the button titled "Download" in the "Actions" column, which will download the document to your device

To upload a document in a case:

navigate to the Document tab in your case
select the button titled "Upload a document" which will display the maximum number of attachments you can upload at once, the file extension types accepted, and the maximum file size
select the button titled "Upload a document" once more to select the document you wish to upload
enter a title or description for this document in the text box and select "Submit" to upload the document to your case

All parties in your case will receive an email informing them of a new document in the case.

Respond to a case invitation

You may receive an email asking you to join a case. This is because the decision may affect the pay equity rights of the employees you represent. You can choose to accept or decline this invitation; however, it is important to understand that the Commissioner's decision is final. Invitations are valid for seven days from the date they were sent.

If you are invited to join a case, you will receive an email with the following information:

a validation key
the file number for the case you were invited to join

Respond to a case invitation:

login or create an account in the Pay Equity Portal
select "Invitation response" on your home page
enter the validation key and the case number you received by email
select "Submit"
confirm that you have the authority to make decisions for the affected workplace party in the case
- for example: I represent the bargaining agent, employer, group of non-unionized employees or other affected party
choose to accept or decline the invitation

Once you have successfully joined a case, the case will be listed on your home page. Selecting the case will give you access to the form, ability to view and upload documents, add representatives (where appropriate) and the Message center.

Using the Message center

The Message center allows you to communicate with one or multiple parties in the case, including the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner.

To begin a new conversation:

navigate to the Message center tab in your case
below the header titled "My discussions" select "New topic"
enter a name/title for this new topic and select the participants you wish to include in the discussion
- if there are only two parties in a case, the choice of participants in the discussion will be pre-selected
use the text box to write your message and select "Submit" to send it

To view a conversation:

navigate to the Message center tab in your case
below the header titled "My discussions" select the existing discussion you wish to open
use the text box below the conversation to write your message and select "Submit" to send your response

You will receive an email when someone creates or responds to a message.

Updates on my case

You will be updated by email if there is a change in any of your cases.

For example:

when your case changes status (for example from Open to Closed)
when a new document is uploaded
when a new message is received in the Message center
when a new party joins your case

If you don't receive updates on your case, please check your junk folder and make sure to add our email address to your list of authorized senders.

You can login to the Pay Equity Portal to view any new information.

Annual Statement Portal

The Annual Statement Portal allows employers to submit their annual statement to the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner, as required by the Pay Equity Act.

On this page:

Access the Annual Statement Portal
Guidance for using the Annual Statement Portal
Submit your Annual Statement

Access the Annual Statement Portal

To use the Annual Statement Portal, you need to:

be an Authorized Representative for an employer
create an account
accept the Terms and Conditions in the Annual Statement Portal

To create an account:

if you already have an account in the Pay Equity Portal (to file a request for information or an authorization request), enter the same email address and password
if you don’t have an existing account, select “Sign up now” and follow the instructions

If you have not received the verification code within ten minutes, please check your junk folder.

Guidance for using the Annual Statement Portal

Create an employer profile

All private employers need to enter their Canada Revenue Agency Business number to create their profile. A business number is a 9-digit number issued by the Canada Revenue Agency to businesses. The business number is a unique identifier for your organization. If you are a private employer and do not have a business number, please contact the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner at Info.com@chrc-ccdp.gc.ca.

Employers in the Government of Canada, separate agencies, Parliamentary precinct, and crown corporations must select their name from the list of employers provided.

Group of employers

The Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner will create groups of employers. If the Pay Equity Commissioner has approved your group of employers and you have not been contacted, please contact the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner at Info.com@chrc-ccdp.gc.ca.

Roles and responsibilities of authorized individuals

An employer can have up to three people in the Portal as an authorized individual. They must include a Senior Pay Equity Representative and the Head of Organization. It is up to the employer to select who will be responsible for its annual statement information.

The Senior Pay Equity Representative is the senior official responsible for answering pay equity questions as required under the Pay Equity Act. In the Portal, they are responsible for creating the employer profile, for granting access to authorized representatives, and for submitting the annual statement.

The Head of Organization is the leader of your organization, for example, your Chief Executive Officer, Owner, Minister, etc.

An additional Pay Equity Representative may support the Senior Pay Equity Representative in completing the annual statement.

All persons who access the Annual Statement Portal must attest that they are authorized to act on behalf of the selected employer.

Create an Annual Statement

An employer is only able to submit one annual statement per year.

Multiple plans

A single plan is the default in the Annual Statement Portal. If the Pay Equity Commissioner authorized you to have more than one pay equity plan in your workplace, you must enter this information when creating your annual statement. Enter all pay equity plans in the same annual statement.

To include multiple plans in your annual statement:

navigate to the page “Annual statement”
enter the number of pay equity plans
enter the date that multiple plans were approved for your workplace
enter the decision citation reference found at the top left of the decision (for example, “2022 PEC 22”)

If you enter the wrong number of plans, you must delete the annual statement and restart.

Job class data

If you have any female predominant job classes that are owed an increase in compensation, you must upload information about those job classes.

Before entering your job class data, enter the following information in the Portal under section 3: Pay equity plan details:

If you received an extension to post your final plan
If you are phasing-in payments

If you were granted an extension, you must include the lump sum amount and interest, the total number of employees and the number of female employees entitled to an increase, for each job class.

If you have phased in your increases, you must include the date of each phase in and the increase in dollars per hour, for each job class.

If you wish to upload data for several job classes, you can use the bulk upload tool available in section 4: Job class details. You can upload more than one file to add all of your job classes.

Submit your Annual Statement

Only the Senior Pay Equity Representative can submit the annual statement.

Review your annual statement details carefully under “Summary”. You can print a copy for review by using the print preview option at any time. If required information is missing, you will not be able to submit your annual statement.

Note: Once you submit your annual statement, you cannot change it. If you realize that there is an issue with your submitted statement, please contact the Office of the Pay Equity Commissioner at Info.com@chrc-ccdp.gc.ca.