Comparator

A comparator is the male job class to which a female job class is compared and found to be of equal or comparable value. The female job class must be paid the same job rate as that of the comparator.

Compensation

Compensation means all salaries, wages, payments and benefits paid or provided to an employee for performing work for which he/she receives a fixed or predetermined amount.

Effective Date

The effective date of the Pay Equity Act is January 1, 1988.

Establishment

An establishment is defined as all the employees of an employer who work in a given geographic division.

Equal Pay for Equal Work

Equal pay for equal work is a section of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 that requires an employer to pay the same wage to a man or a woman doing similar work in the same company.

Gender Bias

Gender bias is the favouring of one gender (usually men) over another (usually women). In compensation, gender bias means that the gender of the person in the job has influenced how that job is paid.

Gender Neutrality

Gender neutrality, for pay equity purposes, is the objective comparison of both female and male jobs. When a job comparison system is gender neutral, it accurately captures the content of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions of the work that is done in both male and female job classes.

Job Class

A job class is defined as those positions in an establishment that have similar duties and responsibilities; require similar qualifications; are filled by similar recruiting procedures; and have the same compensation schedule, salary grade or range of salary rates.

Job Evaluation System

A job evaluation system is part of a job comparison system that determines the value of job classes within an organization.

Job Rate

Job rate is the highest rate of compensation for a job class.

Job-to-Job Comparison

Job-to-Job is a method of directly comparing female job classes to male job classes.

Part II Employers

An employer is subject to Part II requirements of the Act if they are in the private sector and employed 100 or more employees on the effective date, January 1, 1988, or they are in the private sector and employed 10-99 employees on the effective date and chose to post a pay equity plan before December 31, 1993, or they are in the public sector with employees on the effective date or on July 1, 1993.

Pay Equity

Pay equity is equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. Pay equity requires that jobs usually done by women (female job classes) must be valued and compared to jobs usually done by men (male job classes). If they are found to be of similar value, the job classes must be paid the same.

Pay Equity Act, 1987

This law was passed to identify and correct gender discrimination in compensation practices of employers. Under the law, jobs usually held by women are valued and compared to different jobs usually held by men. The Act was amended in 1993, 1995 and 1996, and is now known as Pay Equity Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.7, as amended.

Pay Equity Plan

A pay equity plan is a document that provides employees with information about how pay equity was done and the results for their workplace. Employers subject to Part II of the Act are required to post pay equity plans in the workplace.

Posting

Posting is the act of putting a copy of the pay equity plan in a prominent spot in the workplace where it can be seen and read by all employees.

Proportional Value

Proportional value comparison is a way of indirectly comparing female and male job classes. Proportional value looks at the relationship between the value of the work performed and the compensation received by male job classes, and applies that relationship to determine the pay for female job classes.

Proxy Method

The proxy comparison method allows defined organizations in the broader public sector, which have mostly or all female job classes, to find comparators from another public sector organization. Only organizations that are part of the public sector as defined in the Appendix in the Schedule to the Act and that had employees on July 1, 1993, are eligible to use the proxy method by order of the Commission.